Redemption
by Nayru-dom
Summary: A terrible mistake would forever define the life of Queen Zelda, who now fights to recover the confidence of her people, her council and, most importantly, her own. "The gigantic wolf was always there, but she knew, like every other thing in her life, he would not be there forever." AU - slightly based on TP. - ZeLink Rated M just because I m crazy.
1. Chapter 1

**Author´s notes:**

1 - If someone is reading this...this is my very first attempt at writing anything other than my uni´s reports, so feedback is highly appreciated :)

2 - I am a ZeLink shipper to the bone, so some fluffiness will be inevitable, but this is not exclusively a romance fic.

3 - This is an original story, not based on any particular game, but on the general universe of Zelda, so there´ll be some made up places and OCs.

4 - English is not my first language, and I have some problems with grammar that not even 10 years of speaking the language daily can change, so if spot some grammar or spelling error, please do correct me.

5- The prologues are a bit short, but the chapters get bigger after chapter 4.

6 - Disclaimer: I don´t own Legend of Zelda. Otherwise my OTP would be canon :( (is this mandatory?)

 **Edit 19/12/17: typos**

 **Edit 18/01/18: text and grammar improvements.**

* * *

 **Prologue - Part 1**

Lord Lucast Elron´s back was hurting by the end of the first part of the trial. He was kneeled, head down and listening to all accusations against him and awaiting for his brief moment of defense. He felt outraged. How dared this bitch set him up like that? Was everyone blind to how much it would benefit her if he were convicted? It was obviously her doing.

After Lord Cyril finished his prosecution with wide eyes and face red in anger it was finally his time to say his piece to all these traitors. He looked up directly at her ready to strike that porcelain face with all his rage and with the truth….he was innocent. But when his eyes met those of the Queen of Hyrule he froze. She had won, and she knew it. No one would believe him after so many evidences. he had been caught in the act after all, a framed act, but still…

He was a quite impulsive man, he admitted, but it had never crossed his mind that he could feel so much hatred towards someone. He wanted to choke that smile out of her face.

He wasn´t constrained. He had to kneel, obviously her doing in order to humiliate him even more, but at least his title granted him the right to face his trial without chains. He could simply run the few steps that separated him from her throne and show her that she had messed with the wrong man! For Din, he was the Lord of Alanova…one of the richest regions in all Hyrule...

But as soon as the though came to him, as if reading his mind, he heard the low, guttural growl of The Beast of Hyrule Castle, the gigantic dark-gray wolf sitting by the Queen´s throne and he immediately disregarded this possibility. Uncomfortable was an understatement to describe how he felt every time his eyes happened to lock with those of the Beast, the bluest eyes he had ever seen, and he could swear by all his wealth that the Beast knew all of his darkest secrets.

"Lord Lucast, you are now allowed your defense. What do you have to say in face of such grave accusations?", asked Queen Zelda Nohansen.

She was wearing a very regal lilac and white dress and a gray bodice that bore the emblem of the Royal House of Hyrule. Her auburn hair falling from her back in elegant waves until they met by her lower back, tied with golden strings. It seemed that every single thing about her was carefully designed to make her look the incarnation of Hylia that she was. But it was her eyes, strong violet and cat-like, that unsettled him. There was a new acquired confidence in them that wasn´t there before. What had changed in her? She was just a scared little girl until not long ago, tormented by her past and completely devoid of any self-appreciation. But this person who was sitting on the throne was a wise and cunning woman who seemed to finally have found her place in the world. Was it all an act?

Lucast panicked. Nothing he could say would ever be enough to invalidate the accusations of two Lords of the Council and a Royal Knight. She had clearly thought this through. There was only one course of action left for him…

"I demand the Champion´s Justice, Your Majesty" he said with a shaky voice. It was a desperate attempt and he knew it, but if he were to suffer such horrendous injustice, he would at least draw some blood.

"Which is in your rights." said Zelda, that damned smile never leaving her face. "Please do select your Champion, my Lord."

Lord Lucast couldn´t count on anyone to fight for him now. It was obvious in the faces of all the Lords and Ladies of the Council, nobles, knights…even that old and bushy scrivener…who composed his audience. They wouldn´t risk crossing that bitch for a lost cause like him, not even for all the money he could offer.

"I will be my own Champion, my Queen" was his answer. The audience exchanged concerned looks. Lord Lucast was not young anymore, but was still on his prime as a combatant.

"And We elect the Beast as Hyrule´s Champion.". His blood froze on his veins and sheer panic took over. Was this even allowed? Had this woman no dignity at all? She wanted him down and she wasn´t sparing any dirty tricks to ensure that. Goddesses, he hated her!

He remained unmoved for a long time, trying to grasp how could his life have gone so wrong so fast. Until a week ago he was one the most powerful persons in all the realm, Lord of Alanova and one of the ten prestigious Counselors of the Crown. Now he was being accused of violating Lord Cyril´s still-not-adult daughter (he simply refused to think about the right word for it), one of the two highest crimes according to Hylia´s law, along with assassination.

He stood up on jelly legs and moved forward, reaching for his sword and he could swear in that moment that he never held such weapon in his life, for he had no idea what to do with it. For Din, he couldn´t even remember the name of his own mother.

When the Beast raised from its trademark place at Queen Zelda´s feet and made it to the center of the throne room to face Lord Lucast, he remembered what he had never really forgotten…this animal was huge! Lucast had always been proud of himself for being an imposing figure among hylians and yet, this demon (for no mere wolf could ever be this big) easily reached his waist even in four legs. It moved with ample steps and a confidence to match its size, its eyes never leaving the Lord of Alanova, which made the man feel like one of the rabbits they used to chase back home: small, defenseless and soon lifeless.

"I su-surrender!", he knelt and let go of the sword. The laughter that exploded in the room had to be the most excruciating pain he had ever felt. Even the demon, already returning to his master´s side, had a new glint in his eyes, or was he going crazy? He wanted to run away from that place, never to see these people again.

"Do you acknowledge yourself guilty of the charges pressed against you?" Queen Zelda asked and if he dared to look up at her he would see the smile still planted on her face. The sarcastic smile that wouldn´t reach her eyes, but was enough to leave every man and woman self-conscious, as if she were mocking everything they were.

"No, Your Majesty, I swear by the Three and by Hylia that I have never nor would ever lay a hand on any young girl, much less the daughter of an esteemed colleague of the court. But I am afraid that I have only my word and honor to it".

"You do realize that you leave Us in a difficult position, then? Pledging your innocence and yet refusing to say a word in your own defense, cowering away from the Champion´s Justice that you yourself request. What would you deem to be a fair outcome of this trial, my Lord?"

"I understand the gravity of the accusations and that the punishment for such crime is ex-execution, but it is also known that the application of the law can be subjected to the will of the one who carries the blood of Hylia. Only Your Majesty can request for an exception and if my colleagues from the council approve in majority, this punishment could be changed, so I beg Your Majesty's mercy. Put me in the dungeons..." he started crying. He had managed to be eloquent, in spite of his fear, but when realizing that spending years of his life in a dirty and smelly dungeon cell would be actually a good end to this nightmare, all his will broke, and his next words came out weak and desperate "and I´ll accept any penitence for as long that you see fit".

Her silence while pondering his fate was overwhelming. She knew he was innocent, everyone knew and besides, she had made her own, terrible, mistakes and as far as he knew she got away pretty easily with them. Her only real punishment was an arranged marriage to a not-so-bad-looking prince that she quickly set aside, the poor bastard now left to make strategic appearances only when she deemed necessary.

"Having no real defense and having declined your Champion´s Justice you leave Us with no choice but to see you guilty of all charges" she said with calm and grace, as if commenting on the weather instead of dooming a man´s life, "But for some people there are things in life worse than death, Lord Lucast and We are afraid that even if you spent the rest of you life on our dungeons with daily penitence it still would not be enough to atone for the trauma inflicted on our dear Lady Salin. You shall be banished from Hyrule, never to cross its borders again, taking effect immediately. We say this under Hylia´s law".

When he thought his life couldn´t get any worse. Being alone and poor in a country he didn´t know was the worst outcome possible, one he didn't consider for a second. He looked, astounded, at the faces of every single person in that room…people he had schemed with; people he had paid greatly to be his allies; people who until a while ago were opening up to him about how weak and lost their ruler was; how, no matter how much she tried, she would never be respected by her council or her people again…but he saw only indifference.

He lost all composure. Taking the sword back, Lord Lucast dashed to the throne. He would cut off that smile, cut off that beautiful head, tear her clothes and impale her to that throne so everyone that entered the room would see a dead Queen, bare breasts and his longsword between them, forever bound to her tomb. It was insane, and it was the only thing he could think about.

But before he could finish two steps, the Beast of Hyrule Castle had his sword arm on his powerful teeth and with a single movement, made sure that that arm would never be used again. He fell on his knees for the third time that day and, with blood staining the expensive, ornamented carpet, he didn´t even register the pain in his arm. Blind fury took hold of him, but for all his struggles, he couldn´t overpower the demon. One more movement from the massive beast and his arm would fall limp on the floor.

It didn´t take long for the Royal Guard to secure the man and start dragging him out of the Throne Room. Only then did he recover his capacity of speech and stated yelling with all his might. "You whore! Kill me! It´s so easy for you, kill me bitch! You fucking liar. You will fall…this was your last mistake…I´ll kill you! I´ll…" the massive double-doors closed on him and the trial was over.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author´s notes:**

1 – If everything goes right, I´ll update every Friday. But since I am writing fast I decided to post this chapter a bit earlier because next week is my precious week off.

2 – I think this chapter might have a trigger for anxiety. At least that´s how I felt writing it.

3 – Disclaimer: I don't own LoZ, but I am the proud owner of a Master Cycle Zero :D

 **Answers to reviews:**

Kersplunk: Thank you! And OMG, I laughed so hard at 4 in the morning! I was too eager to post this chapter, I guess, because I didn´t see the innuendo there, but hey, it just adds to Lucast´s charming personality hahaha

Dunga: Thank you for your review :) You will find your answer on this chapter

 **Edit 18/01/18: text and grammar improvements**

* * *

 **Prologue – Part 2**

Zelda was walking the corridors of Hyrule Castle towards her private chambers, the exhausting day finally coming to an end. The only thing she could think about was a hot and relaxing bath, the nauseating taste that the recent events had left her with still too vivid in her mind.

The Beast followed her every step, as usual, and she could see on every guards' face how his presence made them all nervous, even after all these years. They refused to even look at the wolf´s direction. She tried reasoning with them time and time again that this creature had the kindest heart in all Hyrule, only becoming violent when her safety was in question, but it was to no avail. She could only laugh at the ruckus he had caused when he first arrived at the Castle. Over thirty archers, ready to strike at him without a second thought. Nobles, servants, guards, all running away from the creature, who stood by the main entrance, confused and somewhat scared. Of course, she was expecting such reception and managed to shout orders for them to stand down in time to safe the beautiful wolf.

Soon enough, half of the castle´s populace was calling him "The Beast" and the name stuck, regardless of Zelda´s opinion on the matter.

Zelda made a last turn towards her chambers, already smelling the sweet scent coming from her private bath. She would thank her chambermaids later. But apparently her day wasn´t over yet. Her husband was waiting for her by her chamber´s door and she needed a lot of willpower not to roll her eyes.

"I'm afraid you´ll have to wait until tomorrow, Raye. I had a terrible day and just want some rest". She said without stopping to look at him, opening her chamber´s doors and going inside. For a second she thought it had worked, until she heard steps behind her.

"I'm sorry, Zelda, but you have been postponing this for ages. I just need a yes or no, why is it so hard?" Raye said pleadingly, taking a seat at the edge of her bed, watching as she started to remove her crown, gloves and dress and vaguely aware of the Beast dashing slightly to drink some water from a basin on his corner of the room.

"Do you remember that today was Lucast´s trial? He was sentenced to exile. I´ll need to appoint another council member, decide if I´ll redistribute his possessions or appoint a new Lord of Alanova, see to Lord Cyril´s family, continue working on the reconstruction of Castle Town and welcome emissaries from the Lanayru provinces who will not be happy with the outcome of the trial. Do you really think this is the best time for a whole week vacation? If you are patient I´ll think about the best moment for it, but if you will keep pushing me at every chance, then the answer is no." She said while removing her dress, her grace never faltering. She stood up in her underdress and turned to him, hoping that her tired eyes would be enough for making him give up on this pointless discussion.

Raye sighed. "I understand the time is not right, but please think about it." He also stood up and walked the distance between them, placing a tentative hand on her now bare arm. With a small chuckle he continued "I knew…the moment you said yes to me during our wedding…I knew that you would never love me, but I decided that it wouldn´t stop me from doing everything I could to see you happy. Please give me this one chance. One week at my winter palace is all I ask. I´ll show you that I can be a good man for you and if not be the one you love, at least be a good friend. The Goddesses know how much you need a good friend, Zelda."

His hand now stroking her arm gently, he took a step further and briefly kissed her lips, the unresponsiveness from her being all he needed to stop. He wasn´t an unattractive man, quite the contrary. He had light-purple hair, forever bound in a ponytail and red eyes, he was slightly taller than her, but considering she herself wasn´t tall at all, he would be considered a short man, even for hylian standards. His body wasn´t ripped, but also not thin. Somewhen when she was younger she would giggle with her maids and ladies in waiting every time he visited her castle. He was always caring and sweet to her, and it had always been her father´s wish to see them, or better, their kingdoms, together. But now, she couldn´t bring herself to feel anything towards him, aside from a distant fondness.

"As I said, I´ll think about it if you are patient" The sad smile he gave her made her take his head in her hands and forced his red eyes to her. "I do want to be your friend, Raye and I am willing to go to your winter palace with you. Just let me settle things down for now. I have very stressful days ahead of me".

"Okay, I´ll wait for you." He said, defeated. She had been avoiding him for days and she could tell he didn´t want to let this opportunity go to waste, he wanted to talk to her some more. His other hand finding its way to her waist when he asked, "Do you already have any ideas for who´ll be replacing Lord Lucast´s post in the council?"

"I have some names, yes. I want someone new, who still wasn´t marred by politics and self-interest".

"You mean someone naïve, that you can tame?"

"Is that what you think of me, husband? A manipulative ruler?"

"I think of you as someone who is doing what is needed. You have been getting fire from these old rags since forever. These are your father´s people, not yours. You are doing the right thing changing the game a little."

"What do you mean by that? It was only unfortunate the situation with Lord Lucast, he needs to be replaced now and I get to point out some names…it´s all practicality." She didn´t want it to sound defensive, but that´s how it came out either way.

"Zelda, dear….you don´t need to justify your deeds to me". He pulled her in closer. "Whatever brings you some piece of mind is already justified in my eyes."

She didn´t want to talk about this. She still wasn´t sure how she felt about all of this. Lord Lucast was innocent, but he was far from being a good man. He needed to go, for more reasons than one.

Zelda bent his head a little and kissed his forehead. "Good night, husband.", ending the conversation once and for all.

For a second he looked confused, but relented to her wish. "Good night, Zelda." He answered moving for her door and leaving for his quarters.

Zelda sighed and finally released the tension she´d been holding all day.

The moonlight shone brightly on the darkened room, the only other light coming from her fireplace. She removed her underdress and stood in front of her large mirror attached to the wall closer to her wardrobe.

Seeing her naked body under the moonlight had become a ritual for her and the only reason she could think for that was that it brought her a slight sense of atonement, that might or might not help her find sleep during the night. She would trace her cold fingers on the large scar running down her belly and, for another night, try to convince herself that she too had paid for her mistakes, if only a little. The woman in her would hold on to that scar for dear life, in a desperate attempt to show her that she could still do good for her kingdom. But there was also the girl…that weak girl that couldn´t stop remembering and regretting.

"Let me guess what you´re thinking, Beast." His blue eyes had a menacing glint in the moonlight when he approached her, with slow and calculated steps." You´re thinking that I am becoming my father, that I am becoming everything I once said I despised. And you might be right." She turned to him and met his eyes." The things I did today….I´d probably never have done them if my life had followed the course planned by my father and I would be lying if I said it doesn´t hurt. But I have seen these people in a new light these past years. For so long I tried to hold on to my beliefs, to my values…too long" Her face fell and she finally allowed herself to feel. A long time….how long has it been? Ten, twelve years?

He wouldn´t respond to her, of course. He could, but wouldn´t. His silence was another proof that she was right about how he felt about all this. But she didn´t want to fight him….not again. He was the closest one to her now, for better or for worst.

She moved past him towards the bathroom and entered her bathtub, the water already getting cold after so long.

After a not so relaxing bath she went back to her bedroom, put on her thick winter nightdress and went straight to bed. There was no point in trying to delay that moment for another night. It would always be the same. Regardless of how tired she were, the second her head touched her pillows, every single mistake she had ever made would fight a fierce battle for her attention, from a different, better answer she could had given during an important discussion to the moment she tainted her hands with the blood of so many innocent people. Everything she regretted, and the remorse was too much to bear. She wouldn´t cry, the last time she cried was when she got that scar, but the squeeze in her heart and the incapacity of breathing properly would keep her awake for hours to come.

In the morning, she would find her strength back and would be able to occupy her mind with another busy day with all the problems a kingdom has to offer, but at those moments, the problems were her own, the enemy was inside her and she didn´t know how to fight back.

She did the only thing that would distract her, if even a little….She locked her eyes with her Beast, who was now laying on the floor by the side of her bed. For over ten years he had always been at an arm´s length from her and the certainty that she would meet his piercing blue eyes every time she looked for them would always ground her for a while. He was always there, but she knew, like every other thing in her life, he wouldn´t be there forever.

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Dunga: I must admit that I considered going that way, but I chose not to in the end. What do you think?


	3. Chapter 3

**Author´s notes:**

1\. Okaaay…enough with the prologue and build up! This is the final part of the prologue (Omg, I give spoiler to my own fic)

2\. I know reading OCs isn´t what you guys are here for, but they are interesting characters…in my biased opinion.

 **Answers to reviews:**

Dunga: If everything goes the way I am thinking it, this story is going to be bigger than what we usually see, so I will have time to properly develop Raye and all the other characters and their relationships. Hope you´ll like them. But woow, I didn´t think about it that way, you´re right, it would add a lot to their relationship.

Lilyanna32: Thank you for your review!*-* I love pure fluffy fics, but the ones that I loved the most are those with more emotional conflict to it.

* * *

 **Prologue – Part 3**

The forest floor was covered in white when Hyrule entered the coldest month of winter. That, along with the brightness of the moon thats night, brought an eerie atmosphere to the place that would make even the bravest person look over their shoulders. Most of the animals had fled in search of some warmth and hunting had become a hard and lonely duty.

But hunting wasn´t what brought Aleric to the middle of Faron Woods that night, the largest forest in all of Hyrule, that surrounded the entirety of the little Ordon village, the last village in Hyrule before the Kingdom´s border with Lorule. He would choose to hunt during the brief moments of sunlight the next day and pray that Nayru granted him the patience to endure the hours it would take to find their next meal.

That night he was looking for someone. Someone who was supposed to had returned to their hideout in the caves at least some hours ago. Aleric moved as quickly as his thick winter clothes allowed, eyes searching for the white-haired man.

"Aru!" He called in a low voice, still not trusting what might lurk in the heart of the forest so late in the night. He trusted his skills to keep him safe and bring him food, but he still needed to get stronger, but most of all, not being able to find the other man was weighting on his heart and distracting him from all other thoughts. Aleric didn´t think he would be able to focus on a fight at that moment not even to save his life. He had been searching for at least an hour…

"Aru!", he called again, this time stronger, worry finding its way into his voice.

After so long, the forest started to look all the same, no matter where he turned to and he would have to think how to get back home after finding Aru. He prepared to turn right, choosing another path when something heavy fell on his head.

Looking at the forest floor he saw Agitha´s staff, the responsible for his newly acquired headache.

A noise from above forced him to look up and relief flooded him. There he was, sitting in one large branch, his head resting on the tree trunk, sleeping peacefully. His right hand limp at his side, the one who probably was holding the staff.

"Aru, you idiot!" He almost shouted, grabbing the staff and climbing the tree to wake him up. "Wake up so I can kill you! Hey!" He was shaking the other man violently and Aru awoke with a jump that almost made him lose his balance.

"Wha-what, Aleric? For Nayru, do you want to kill me? Goddesses, my heart! Don´t scare me like that" he grumbled like an elder, even though he was just twenty-four. His white, messy hair plastered on his face because of the position he had been sleeping. His hand scratching vigorously his blue eyes, trying to push sleep away. Aru´s every feature, from the way he carried himself, to the sound of his voice, and the smoothness of his skin, was delicate, which was a stark contrast to all the other hylians that grew up in the farming Ordon village.

"That´s exactly what I want. What on Hyrule are you doing so far into the forest at this hour? I was looking for you forever!"

"Don´t be dramatic. Look, the moon is still not on its peak, it is not even past midnight. And what do you mean what am I doing here? I´m helping you, of course! Agitha told me that I needed to find the deepest part of the forest and gather all magic I could into the staff so you wouldn´t have to use your own. So, I came here, but I fell asleep, I guess…again" He finished, looking down sheepishly.

"Agitha told you that? And you believed her?"

"Why wouldn't I believe her? She is the specialist. And I have seen her doing it once. It is a thing!" Aru said, defensively.

"Oh, Aru, what do I do with you? She lied! You can gather magic into the staff, but it´s definitely not enough to help me…it´s just a small amount. The staff is made to shape magic, not store it."

Aru stared at his friend, clearly confused. Then, as the truth settled in, Aleric saw his face betray the slightest anger. There was something about Aru every time he got angry, in the thin line of his lips and the way his cheeks seemed to double their size, making his face turn almost completely round, that Aleric couldn´t help but find endearing.

Aleric chuckled and urged Aru to get down from the tree. "Come on, let´s go home."

###

Just as Aleric feared, getting back home also took longer than necessary. He was hungry, tired and cold and just wanted to sit by the fire after eating Aru´s delicious soup.

"You really have to be more careful with who you trust, Aru. You know Agitha…is not fond of you, to say the least. If I hadn´t found you, you would definitely have slept until your death….we both know you could do that."

"In my defense, how was I supposed to know? I thought she was trying to help you, which is why she´s here for, right? And why doesn´t she like me, when she clearly adores you?" Aru said, frustration evident in his voice.

"It´s easy actually…the only person you can really trust is me. Everyone else is evil." He said with humor, but also a tad bit of truth.

He had always been like that. Trying to help without asking questions, worrying about everything and everyone and caring for the world. That´s how they had met in the first place. When Aleric most needed, it was Aru who reached out and saved his life. That worked just fine when they lived in Ordon village, but here, out in the world, it would be considered a weakness.

The moon had been covered by clouds by the time they reached the cave and a thick snow started to fall.

The caves were an intricate maze made of several smaller caves and accesses, the only source of light being a few torches on the wall. They had been living as nomads for so long that Aleric didn´t bother to give this place any thought, but he always felt like a criminal every time he went back there. Surely, they didn´t want anyone to find out what they were doing, and it surely was a crime, but still….

Finding their way in the caves was still troublesome for Aleric. They hadn´t been living there for long, so Aru had to lead the way. Only after so much turning and going did they arrive at the main room, that worked as their meeting place for the handful of people that had suddenly joined them.

Aleric and Aru each grabbed a portion of what remained of the soup and sat across each other at the provisory table, discussing their plans for the next day, but the events of another busy day were weighting them down, so they said their good-nights right after eating.

After watching his friend retreat to his hole in the wall that they have adapted to work as an individual room, Aleric turned and moved to a room opposite to his own. He moved the pink curtain to the side without bothering to ask for permission to enter, he was sure he would find her awake.

Agitha sat on her bed, hugging her knees close to her chest. She raised her blond head to him and asked indifferently, "Did you find him?".

"Come with me" was his answer and the smallest trace of concern passed her face when she stood up and followed him to one of the caves´ chambers. That particular chamber wasn´t used by them and Aleric hadn´t been there since the first day they started living in the caves, some two weeks ago, in order to map the area.

The chamber was made of plain stone walls with a rocky floor. Two steps into it would reveal a very large hole on the floor and the only indication they had about its depth was how long it took for a small stone to reach its bottom…and it did take too long.

"Was he ok? Why was he outside at this hour? Is he stupid?" She said and Aleric just stared at her for a while, eyes not betraying any emotion. "Making you go out in this cold to look for him…I bet he was trying to get your attention". She added, getting uncomfortable with the silence.

"He told me, Agitha." Was all he said.

"…Told you what?" Her breathing getting faster.

"That you instructed him to stay outside and gather magic into your staff."

"So that´s where my staff was! I´ve been looking for that the whole day. The selfish bastard must have stolen it to try and impress yo..!" She cut her words short when, in two large steps, Aleric reached for her throat and pushed her towards the hole.

"I understand your reasoning, really. Strangely enough, you don´t like him, but you happen to know that he would always try to help me. You decided to take advantage of that and sent him to freeze in the forest. What did you tell him, hmm? That it was a secret between the two of you? That he couldn´t tell me for some reason?" His hand on her throat wasn´t tight, but he kept pushing her towards the hole, while she fought him with arms and legs to release herself from his grasp. "Let me tell you a secret about Aru, then. For all his kind heart, there are still some things he wouldn´t do for someone else and he would never lie to me or hide anything from me." His face remained emotionless, but he was sure that his eyes were burning with anger. She was at the edge of the hole, body frozen in fear. If he released her, she would fall to her death. "I don´t need you to like him, but try to hurt him one more time and I will make sure you are never separated from that staff again."

"I´m so-sorry…I´m so sorry. I didn´t mean to hurt him…I just wanted him away for a while. I am sorry, please." She was crying when Aleric yanked her back and left the chamber without another word.

###

With a throbbing head, Aleric was walking his way back to his room.

When crossing Aru´s curtains, he heard the man say "You didn´t have to do that."

He pondered for a while. "Yes, I did. For my own sake, I did." Aleric answered, and went straight to his room. A bath could wait until tomorrow.

In his room, he removed his thick winter clothing, but kept the under layers. Even with the improvised fireplace burning in the room, it was still too small to provide enough warmth, so nights in the cave were always cold.

Looking at himself in the piece of broken mirror that hung from the wall, a gift from Agitha, so he could do something about his messy hair in the mornings, he felt old.

At the young age of twenty-six, there was a tiredness in him that he couldn´t change, with all the mirrors in the world. His black, shoulder-length hair was, as usual, locked almost on top of his head, in a bun, but, for all he tried, it would always look messy. His gray eyes staring back at him, betraying a life of happiness and a life of happiness lost.

Looking at himself in the mirror always solidified his resolve.

They could had been so much. He had just taken over his master´s business as Ordon´s blacksmith when everything went wrong. Demand for weaponry was high because of the war and a very possible deal for a better price on rapiers and longswords was under negotiation with the Royal Guard (Aru´s doing).

He would have lived the rest of his life doing what he loved, making weapons that would protect the kingdom and everyone he cared about.

But that was before. Before his world turned upside down and he was forced to leave the cozy village that sheltered him and made him believe that he actually had a chance, that he could have a future. The only things he had left from that life was the broken steel-made medallion that his old master had given him, and bore the emblem of the shop…and Aru.

In the beginning, he wanted revenge. He wanted to destroy the Princesses' world and make her feel everything he had felt. Lastly, he would kill her, just because he could. But maturity made him see that, for all she suffered, his friends would still be gone, his old shop still burnt to ashes. And besides, this was a dangerous life they were living and a revenge that risked Aru´s life wasn´t worth it.

No, maturity made him see that the right thing to do was to make sure that that never happened again, that the Queen wouldn´t have the chance to make the Princesses´ mistakes.

"For my own sake…" He whispered to himself and laid on his back on the bed, the memory of Aru´s angry face bringing a smile to his lips.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author´s notes:**

\- Huge thanks to Lilyanna32, who is beta-reading this fic and helping me improve my grammar! She also writes for LoZ. Go check out her work! It´s pure sweetness *-*

\- Nope. Don´t own LoZ, only these weird OCs.

 **Answers to reviews:**

Lilyanna32: Thank you! I was in doubt if I should use OCs or not, but I really liked the way they turned out :) I´m very glad you liked it

Donald Trump (?! lol) That´s a great advise, Mr. President! But what if all Loruleans have Ravio´s bracelet? What should we doo? Help me make Hyrule great again!

Allison Illuminated: Thank you very much for your words! I was concerned of making the very first chapter with and OC´s POV, but I think it worked out.

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

10 years earlier

Princess Zelda´s study was an ample room, surrounded by high shelves and broad windows. The walls were decorated with paintings and silky curtains. At the center there was a velveted chair and a finely carved wooden table, with lamps, scrolls and inkwells spread out on top of it. A good amount of the books that once were neatly arranged on the shelves now laid on big piles on the floor.

Despite the comfortable chair, sixteen years old Princess Zelda was sitting on the floor, three massive books were open in front of her while she took notes on different scrolls. Her brow wrinkled in attention.

Studying had always been more of a hobby than a task for her and she could spend hours in this room, reading about all there was, from ancient legends of the land to practical botanical guides.

But the current subject of her attention was a field known to very few and it had never come naturally to her. She was not the only mage in Hyrule, surely not, but her type of magic was something exclusive to her bloodline and, without her mother to guide her, she was having a tough time understanding these old books that talked a lot about how to feel magic, but very little on how to actually use it. Impa was the only one who had both the knowledge (acquired from her time training Zelda´s mother) and the practice (the Sheikah herself could perform shadow magic) regarding the ways of a mage.

Zelda had been studying for nearly three hours and she was reminded of that when her stomach performed a not very royal growl.

Right on cue, there was a knock at her door and Sheik´s voice spoke through it. "Lady Zelda, may I come in?".

"Sure, come in!" she answered. When trying to raise from her sitting position she realized her feet were dormant and she immediately fell on one pile of books when Sheik opened the door.

"Are you well, my Lady?" He said with a light surprise in his eyes, as soon as the feeling appeared it was quickly shut down and he resumed with his stoic face.

"Yes, I´m fine. Dormant feet again. I should have learned my lesson by now." She was making circles with her feet in order to get them working again but, still unable to trust them, she remained on the floor. "How can I help you on this fine afternoon, my friend?" She said, trying to lighten the mood. He suddenly had become so formal when they were in public, undoubtedly Impa´s influence. She missed his witty answers greatly.

"It´s evening already, my Lady. And King Daphnes wishes to have dinner with you."

"Really?!" She jumped from the floor, nearly falling again. "It has been so long! Do you know if he is alone? Is it a formal dinner?" She couldn´t hide her excitement. Her father had been so busy because of the war that she hadn´t seen him in nearly a month.

"He was alone when he asked for you, but I don´t know if he will be meeting with someone." Sheik said. "…Your highness" he quickly added.

Zelda stared at him disapprovingly. "I will have to talk to Impa about this new attitude of yours. Anyway…" she raised both her arms and made a full turn "how do I look? Acceptable for a meeting with the King of Hyrule?"

He looked around, checking for someone´s presence. After confirming they were alone, he answered "If you had enough time I would say that your hair is a mess, but your father was already going to the dining hall, so….you´re good to go."

"Sweet Hylia, I´m late. I´ll talk to you later" She dashed out of her study and she needed to remind herself that princesses weren´t supposed to run through the castle´s corridors and marble stairs.

Her study was located in the north tower, close to her chambers, and the dining hall was on the very first ground, close to the south tower and next to the throne room. She got there as fast as she could, but she was sure her hair would be even worse now.

Zelda nodded her head respectfully to the two Royal Guards guarding the dining hall´s door. They nodded back and one of them opened the door, so she could meet with the King.

Her father was already sitting at the huge dining table. He was wearing black leather boots, white pants, a blue and red shirt and a velvet blue cape over all of that. His brown-turning-white short hair was well kept and on top of it his crown, adorned with rubies and sapphires, shone regally. He most definitely had just gotten out of a meeting with the war council and probably would head to another after dinner. This was indeed a rare moment. But to her surprise and disappointment, sitting at his left on the table was Lord Cyril, his oldest counselor and one of King Daphnes' personal friends. The man was nearing his sixties but was still very active.

After noticing her presence, the king opened his arms to salute his daughter. "My sunshine, please sit with us today."

She went to him with a beaming smile and hugged her father tightly. "Good evening, father. Thank you for inviting me." Zelda released the king, politely saluted Lord Cyril, who nodded back, and finally sat at her father´s right.

"I must admit it wasn't easy to finish our meeting earlier, but I haven´t seen my own daughter in so long that I had to get rid of those nagging people. Tell me, sunshine, how are you doing?" He asked, his full attention on her, when the servants started bringing the entrées from the kitchen.

She served herself some pumpkin soup and answered "I am fine, father, thank you. Today I trained archery with Impa in the morning, attended my legal classes, had lunch with Sheik and spent the rest of the afternoon in my study, reading about magic. Tomorrow I plan to do the same, but instead of archery, Impa will show me some new spells." She was blabbing a little, but that was because she was nervous to finally be in his presence. "What about you, father?" She asked with genuine interest.

"That was a productive day you had, my princess." He said with a chuckle. "I, on the other hand, was stuck almost the entire day with the war council. Lorule is getting more aggressive by the hour and we are very concerned with their next move. We are sending a new detachment to Ordon Village to protect the border, but new intel tells us that they have moved reinforcements to that region as well. If they decide to make a move, we are sure to lose a lot of lives." He finished, looking down with a sad sigh.

 _Oh, no_ , she thought. He would rarely inform her about the status of the war. If he was being so open about it this time it could only mean one thing: He would ask for her help again. And it is not that she didn´t want to help protect the kingdom and ensure they would win the war, but last time he asked for her help, she came back home completely exhausted and slept for a whole day.

The war with Lorule had been going on for as long as she could remember, even before her father became the king, when her mother was still alive and was the rightful ruler.

Hyrule and Lorule were, even now, known as twin-kingdoms because of all the similarities in geography, history and culture. Both kingdoms suffered a historical shortage of safflina, a plant that was a vital ingredient for making potions for the Yearly Fever, which was an annual disease that assailed both countries during winter and was responsible for the deaths of far too many citizens, especially children. The plant could only be grown at the Eventide Island, located north on the Samelia seas, geographically located within Lorule´s borders, but that had been under Hyrule´s law since the kingdom came to be, and Hyrule charged high prices on its trade. So, all this mess started as a resource dispute.

The war progressed at a slow pace until three years ago. In a desperate attempt to come to terms with the other kingdom, King Ghiram of Lorule requested for a meeting with Hyrule´s Queen, Amalia, where a peace treaty would be negotiated. The Queen accepted the request and the meeting took place on a temporary camp set up on the woods beyond Ordon Ranch, where both kingdoms met.

The negotiations took four days and the treaty was signed. It was designed that Hyrule would still hold the legal rights to the island, but it would be obligated to lower the prices on the safflina´s trade with Lorule.

It was a good agreement that would work well for both sides, but on their trip back to Castle Town, before even leaving Mid Faron Woods, there was an ambush to their party and the Queen of Hyrule was assassinated.

Zelda cried for days in the solitude of her room. She cried for her mother and she also cried for her father. Amalia´s death was a devastating hit to King Daphnes´ heart. During the two weeks that succeeded her mother´s funeral every time Zelda saw her father he was crying, and twice she heard his screams, one scream in desperation, the other in rage.

When the king emerged from his chambers two weeks later, he was a changed man. He still maintained his natural way with words and his irresistible charisma, characteristics that would help him tremendously when ruling the kingdom in the years to come. However, there was something different about him, something colder. She never loved him less because of that, but after every interaction with him, Zelda felt as if he had gotten something out of her…a piece of information, a promise, help. It also unsettled her how his radiant smile always disappeared when he was done talking and turned to leave the room.

At the prime of her sixteen years, Zelda took these actions as grief, a debilitating grief that would take her beloved father forever to overcome. She had never loved anyone the way he had loved her mother, so she could only guess. One day she would understand.

After officially assuming his new responsibilities as King Regent until Zelda turned twenty one, his first action was to find culprits. In his mind it was obvious that King Ghiram was behind Amalia´s assassination and the treaty signed was immediately disregarded. And, although Daphnes wouldn´t admit it aloud, he also blamed Impa. The Sheikah was responsible for training Amalia´s magic and making her strong and capable of defending herself in situations like these. Clearly, Impa´s methodology was flawed.

Then, the war intensified and Daphnes´ every breathing moment was dedicated to bringing the other kingdom its demise. He would meet with war councils, generals, make deals to reinforce the army, buy weapons, fortify the borders, and, lately, ask for Zelda´s help.

Ever since her magic awoke at the age of 15, the standard age for any magic practitioners, he would ask for her help in the war. Either casting a protection spell when he was going to battle, or enchanting his weapons for strength or even enchanting his horse for responsiveness.

She never liked doing it. It would always leave her exhausted. But she was protecting her father, helping them win the war and also making his smiles last a little longer.

He was looking at her now, waiting for a comment.

"I thought you said last time that they were preparing to attack from the sea, not from the border." She asked, genuinely curious.

"Ghiram increased the forces near the border. We still think it is a diversion and he is going to attack from the sea, but Ordon is a strategic position. If they take the village, the path from Faron Woods will leave them at our doorstep. We can´t allow that. That´s why we are sending reinforcements to the soldiers that are already in the village." He lectured her.

"But if the war is for the island, why would they attack inland. Shouldn´t they send more troops to Eventide, instead?" Inland attacks were common these days, but Zelda always considered them a waste of resources.

It was Lord Cyril who answered. "Your highness, if I may? The Eventide island is currently divided between both kingdoms and the war is also taking place there. But there´s just enough room and resources on the island to accommodate both armies and to keep sending resources to our soldiers is depleting our accounts. I am certain that the same goes for Lorule. Also, the battle had reached an impasse, where neither army is making any advance. So, Lorule adopted a different strategy. Instead of trying to take the island, they are trying to attack our armies directly. If our army is destroyed, we can´t protect Eventide anymore."

"I see." She said, feeling ashamed for not having realized that sooner. She still had so much to learn.

The king, who still held his beautiful smile during their exchange, turned his violet eyes to his daughter and said "Which is why we have to make sure that, if they attack Ordon, we can protect it. I can only allow so many soldiers to the village without jeopardizing the other sites, so I was counting on your help once again, my sunshine."

The main course was served, but suddenly Zelda lost her appetite. She was dreading whatever he was going to ask of her.

"But would you have me do?"

"You have become quite proficient with your protection spell. I say you go to Ordon with the next detachment and just…stay in the village. Should any real threat come true, you use your Nayru´s Love to protect the soldiers and the citizens, like a real princess." His smile grew slightly, then he laughed and added "Think of it as summer vacation."

"B-but, father, I have only used Nayru´s Love to protect myself. To use it on an entire village…I-I…I don´t know if I can." Her eyes went wide with dread. Such a spell would request a massive amount of magic. If performing it on a single person would leave her tired enough to sleep for an entire day, she didn´t want to think about how she would feel using it on such a scale.

"Sweetheart, you have the blood of Hylia AND Nayru´s triforce. The Goddesses live inside of you. Protecting Hyrule is who you are." He cupped her cheeks and looked at her sweetly. "If there is anyone in the world who can do this, it is you."

"Impa thinks I am not ready." She regretted it as soon as the words left her mouth. He released her cheeks and, although still smiling, his expression became serious.

"And what does Impa know? She wants to teach you the bare minimum, so you won´t become stronger than her. You are the most powerful mage in the whole land. She is just a very old Sheikah who doesn't want to lose her usefulness. For Din, she can barely cast shadow magic anymore."

Zelda wanted to tell him that what she had was a great amount of magic inside of her, but that didn´t make her a powerful mage. Not if she didn´t know what to do with this magic. However, she remained silent.

Sensing her uneasiness, Daphnes added "Sunshine, look at me." She raised her eyes to his." This war has taken so much out of us. I am tired, and I just want to see it through. If they will attack from the sea, our forces will be ready to take them. If they attack from land, you will be there to protect our people until I can send the rest of the army to end this war once and for all. We, Zelda, we can finally bring peace to our beloved people and rest to your mother´s soul. Don´t they deserve that?"

How do you say no to that? She was scared, but she had to try it either way. It was her duty to her father, to her mother and to Hyrule. She said yes.

Giving her one last bright smile, King Daphnes turned to Lord Cyril, who remained silent throughout the whole conversation, and discussed their next steps, his only next words to Zelda being "good-night".

When dinner was over she moved to the door to go to her chambers but not before glancing one last time at her father. He was saying good bye to Lord Cyril when the man turned to leave. He was smiling until the Lord left the dining hall. Then he turned around, and all happiness disappeared from his face.

###

"So, he wants to use you as a weapon?" Said Sheik.

After nervously pacing in her room for an entire hour, Zelda gave up on sleep and went to Sheik´s chambers. She needed to talk to someone about her meeting with her father.

"He wants to end the war. My powers were given to me by the goddesses, so I could protect the land. Now I can protect the land. It makes sense, right?" There were so many questions running through her mind, so many pros and cons for each decision that she was starting to get lost in her train of thought.

"This is the third time you say this. Are you trying to convince me or yourself?" He was sitting cross-legged at his windowsill while Zelda took the chair next to the fireplace. He was a Sheikah to the bone. If his red eyes and long white hair were not enough to distinguish him as such, there was the damned pragmatic way of seeing things. Not even once had he expressed any doubts about what the right choice was, always so sure about which path to follow. She would never admit it to him, but she envied that. It always took Zelda days to decide on something, and even after she finally made a choice, doubt would still linger in her heart. How could she expect to rule the whole kingdom if she couldn´t even pick her own food? So much for Nayru´s triforce…

She sighed, already getting angry with him. "I don´t need convincing. I already said yes to my father, there is no turning back now. I want to know your opinion. Do you think I am doing the right thing?"

"How would I know? I have no idea how proficient you are in magic. If you are good enough, then go. If you are not, then don´t…go?" He really wasn´t helping.

"But how will I know if I am good enough? I have the magic in me and I…"

"Zelda, you know who you should be asking this to, right?"

"I know, but I know what she will say…" And mimicking Impa´s voice, she added" Princess, you are not strong enough".

Sheik laughed and said "Goddess, you got even the face right!" And in a more serious tone he added "But there it is your answer. She is your professor and she says you are not ready, so…"

"But, honestly, she uses shadow magic, and that is so different from my magic. How can she really know when I am ready or not?

"Is that you talking or your father?"

"Does it make the argument less valid?"

"Well, yes, since your father´s opinion on Impa is completely biased?"

It was true. Daphnes didn´t like Impa, but she still thought that it made sense that the Sheikah wouldn´t know everything about Zelda´s magic. Impa´s magic came from the shadows while Zelda´s came from her blood…Hylia´s blood. She was the only one with that magic in the entire world, now that her mother was gone.

It was pointless to continue asking him. He wouldn´t give her an answer, because there was no answer to give. First, she already made a choice and couldn´t change it. Second, to him it was pretty obvious that she was the only one that could know what to do, since he didn´t hold any magic power and had no idea what was considered proficient and amateur.

"Do you think Impa loves you?" She asked suddenly, earning a surprised glare from her friend.

"Wow, because that is not random at all."

"Just…answer me!"

He sighed, "She is fond of me, of course. She took care of me my whole life. I think not even us Sheikah can shut down feelings that well. But I definitely wouldn´t call it love. She would still send me to death if the mission required. But why do you ask?"

"I used to think she loved my mother. She had known my mother ever since she became queen and she had been by her side for twenty years. But she acts like she never knew her. She never talks about her, or never shows sadness when her death is brought up. Nothing. Like she erased all those years from her mind. It feels so…sad" Truth to be told, Zelda was afraid that Sheik, who recently started a new step on his shadow training, would end up like the elder Sheikah. He was already showing a new behavior when they were in public, talking to her with deference and always restraining himself from speaking freely, like he used to.

Sheik´s parents both died in the Eventide war, after a mission gone wrong. According to what Zelda knew about them, they were two of the best warriors within the Sheikah tribe and would be considered the closest people (at least as close as you can get) to Impa, the tribe leader. At the time of their death Sheik was just one year old, and he remained in Kakariko village, home of the Sheikah, for another three months with another family until Impa sent for him. He was brought to Hyrule Castle to be raised by her in a rare sign of compassion for the elder´s colleagues.

Zelda was born one year after that and as they grew they easily became each other´s best friends, being the only kids their age within the castle.

She talked to some noble girls and there were always her ladies in waiting, who she met every now and then to update herself on the most recent social happenings (not gossip, of course not), but she never had anything to talk to them about that wasn´t related to someone else´s life and as soon as the subject was exhausted, they remained in an uncomfortable silence.

No, it wasn´t the same. And Zelda could only take her loneliness every time Sheik had a mission outside of the castle as a sign of how miserable her life could had been if not for him.

But of course, she would never let him know that.

"Impa is…a complicated person. I will be thankful to her my whole life for all she taught me, but I definitely don´t owe my mental health to her." Sheik pondered. "Anyway, back to the point, you said it yourself, you already made your choice. No point on fretting about it now. So, I would really like to sleep, you know, since we both have very important trainings tomorrow."

"No, wait! I have one last thing to ask you."

"Woman, the moon is almost at its peak! Can´t it be tomorrow?"

"No. You said it yourself, tomorrow is a busy day and I don´t know if I will see you".

"Goddesses, just be quick." He said scratching his eyes. He was really tired, she could tell.

Zelda suddenly became very insecure, fiddling with her dress´ skirt and thinking about the right way to approach this.

Sheik grew impatient. S _o surprising_ , she thought. He sighed again and started saying "Yeah, I can wa…"

"Come with me." She asked.

He looked at her, aghast. This was one of the rare moment he didn´t have a witty answer to her.

The weird silence stretched for too long in Zelda´s opinion while both remained immobile, looking at each other, him with an expression that questioned her sanity, her with a face that personified anxiety.

"No." Was all he managed to say.

"Wha…come on…don´t let me go there alone. This will be the first time I will be outside of the castle for more than a week! I don´t want to be surrounded solely by drunk knights who only say improper things."

"Hmmm…still no."

"There will be plenty of new people for you to meet. You can finally be rid of me."

"I am not that sociable."

She raised her eyebrows and pouted, in a desperate attempt to change her friend´s mind. "Pwease", she pleaded.

"Sorry, princess…that weird face might work on oh-so-charming-Raye, but all I can see is how many wrinkles you are going to get when you get older." He teased her. "I really can´t go. How would I justify that to Impa? You F no idea how long you will be away for, I can´t just suspend my training like that."

"Then let´s bring Impa with us." She reasoned.

"Impa is a servant to the crown. You know her place is at your father´s side, no matter how happy he would be to be rid of her."

"Then your place is with me. That can be arranged. If my father decrees it, she won´t have a choice but to let you go." …" Unless you don´t want to." She added.

"Wants have nothing to do with this, Zelda. Of course, I would like to know a new village and be rid of these ugly stone walls…"

"Hey!"

"…but I am the one who is going to need to handle Impa´s wrath when I return."

"So much for not showing emotions. Where is all her coolness now?"

"You are so mature, you know."

"Come on, Sheik. I…" she didn´t want to get emotional, and had to fight the tears from running down her face. "I am really scared." She said in a low voice.

He took his time thinking, just looking at her with an emotionless expression. When Zelda thought she would lose her battle against her tears, he finally answered.

"Ahh, fine! But you do the talking." He said, pointing a finger at her.

She was so relieved that she didn´t even fight the urge to hug him, running the distance between them awkwardly. He was caught by surprise, but returned the hug nonetheless.

"Yeah, yeah, you´re happy, I get it." He said, patting her back.

She released him and with a huge smile answered "Thank you, Sheik. Really!"

"Oh no, that´s no favor, princess. I just don´t know yet what I will want as payment. Now, Your Royal Highness, get out!" He tried to look angry, but his chuckle at the end made him fail miserably at that.

"Ahh okay…so grumpy. And I am the one who will end up with wrinkles." She moved to the door and opened it. Before leaving, she turned to him again, "Good-night, Sheik."

"Good night, Zel."

And she returned to her chambers with a lighter heart.

* * *

Extra note:

\- It really is Ghiram. Not Ghirahim :) I might have my reasons (or not).

\- Where is Link, I wonder?


	5. Chapter 5

**Author´s notes:**

1 - Do you have a beta? I have a beta! And the best one! She spent one hour and a half proofreading this chapter, so please give it some love :)

2 - I am clearly having issues with length. I think the prologues were too short, but this chapter is way too long. This will be fixed for the next chapters!

3 - I changed a few things in the previous chapters, nothing major, just typos and grammar. Just think it´s good to point it out.

 **Answers to reviews:**

Donald Trump: I don´t know if I laugh or cry at this T.T

Frost 55: Right?! Her sassiness alone could end any war! Haha

Gnote fanfic: Thank you for your review *-* And aye, sir! There you go :)

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

The detachment was scheduled to depart to Ordon Village in two weeks, so the Knights could gather all materials necessary for the four days travel.

The army was composed mostly by hyrulian nationals, but the alliance secured by King Daphnes with the kingdom of Labrynna added to their numbers by a significant amount.

The fact that Zelda and Sheik would be accompanying the party was known to very few: only her father, Lord Cyril, Impa, the battalion's general and his immediate, and Ambi and Raye, respectively Queen and Prince of Labrynna. To everyone else, Zelda´s sudden disappearance from the castle would be disguised as a long diplomatic trip to Labrynna with the objective of fortifying the alliance with their neighbor from the east.

Zelda would spend the entirety of this time practicing her spells and magic and reading every book she could find. She wanted to feel more confident in her decision and make sure that, should a battle indeed occur, she would do her part well.

But, just as she dreaded, her discussion with Impa hadn´t been an amicable one. The Sheikah had been informed of the decision by Daphnes himself, during a very uncomfortable meeting between the King of Hyrule, Impa, Zelda and Sheik.

At the mention of Sheik going along with the princess, Zelda looked straight at her mentor´s face searching for any trace of concern, but found none. Her wrinkled and stony face remained unchanged. Instead, the old woman took a step ahead and asked for the king´s permission to speak freely.

"Permission denied. This is my final decision!" Was Daphne´s answer.

"Your Majesty, Sheik's still under training and it will be a major setback for him if he were to stop now just to serve as company to the Princess." Was Impa´s reply and Zelda couldn´t hide her astonishment at seeing someone defying her father´s authority like that.

"I received reports about his missions and they all highly praise his skills. I trust him to protect the Princess." He smiled at Impa, patronizingly.

"Won´t the Princess have enough soldiers to keep her safe?"

"The soldiers will be focused on reinforcing the village´s defenses, as they should. Sheik will focus only on my daughter´s protection. I want someone capable close to her and may The Three forbid something happening to my Zelda like her mother." The accusation in his icy glare was evident for the world to see. Zelda and Sheik exchanged concerned looks regarding the turn of events.

"Your Majesty, I must insis…"

"I did not give you permission to speak, Sheikah, and still you have talked enough. Sheik is to go with Zelda." Daphnes replied and there was a finality in his tone that not even Impa would defy.

When the king dismissed them, it was time for Zelda´s training with Impa and both of them headed straight to their private training ground. On a side room, Zelda changed her pink dress that, albeit simple, still wouldn´t be suitable for physical activities. She chose traditional Sheikah training clothes instead. The garb was a dark blue and had a red Sheikah eye on its torso. It allowed for unrestrained movements and was made of a fine material that would let the skin breath even with so much exercise. But it always made Zelda feel very uncomfortable and too exposed every time she wore it. The clothes were tight and very form fitting, and although Zelda wasn´t ashamed of her body in any way, if somebody were to see her like that, she was sure her face would turn deeply red.

Zelda now stood on the training ground with a rapier in hand, her hair tied up in a ponytail. Impa was sitting on a bench, looking intently at Zelda´s every movement.

"Last time your practiced with the rapier you attacked fixed targets with physical strength only. Now, you have to focus Din´s fire into your blade to set the blade on fire." The elder instructed. Despite her advanced age, her voice sounded firm and commanding.

"Right." Zelda raised her hand and positioned her feet the way Impa had instructed her. She focused Din´s fire into the blade with every ounce of focus she could muster. After a short while, she reopened her eyes, expecting the blade to be ablaze, but to her disappointment, her rapier was just slightly warm.

"You are not putting enough of the spell into the blade. You need more." Impa instructed, seemingly very patient.

"I will do it again." Positioning herself again and focusing Din´s fire, Zelda tried to reach further within herself, in search of Hylia´s power. She could feel the magic flowing through her veins. Every time that happened, Zelda felt a deep connection to Hyrule and everything in it. It was like the whole land became alive and sentient. The magnitude of this feeling would never fail to both impress and terrify her. In moments like these, Zelda felt reconnected with the land she would one day rule and always protect. The growing grass, the animals walking on the ground, the hopes and dreams of the people who inhabited Hyrule, all of that resonated within her like a second beating heart.

She could lose herself in these thoughts and the sense of peace would never leave her.

Not until she heard Impa´s alarmed voice, that is. "Your highness, you are not focusing! Open your eyes!"

When Zelda opened her eyes, she saw not only her rapier on fire, but also the training dummy and a large part of the grass surrounding it.

"Not again!" Zelda cried and dashed for the water buckets, strategically positioned within close reach. It took her a great amount of time to extinguish the fire, leaving the soil blackened and the air with a terrible smoky smell. The poor training dummy would need to be replaced again. "This is not working, Impa. We should focus on the protection spell that I will need in Ordon".

"If you can´t control your magic into a simple blade, how can you hope to control it when you expand it into a whole village, Your Highness? The spells are different, but the fundament is the same. You must control it." The elder Sheikah answered, seemingly unsettled by the near destruction of the training ground.

"But how can I control it, Impa? You told me to feel the power in me and let it flow to the outside. But every time I do that, it is either not strong enough, or too strong!"

"Then it' s a matter of practice, is it not, Princess?" Impa asked. Although still politely, Zelda could sense the reprimand in her voice.

"Speak your mind, Impa. What do you really want to tell me?" Zelda didn´t want to order her own master, but she didn´t liked veiled words and would much rather the elder to be direct with her.

"You should not go, Your Highness." Was all the other woman said.

"I must, Impa. So, I have to practice as much as I can. We have two weeks, so please stop judging me and make sure I can do my job." Zelda turned around and grabbed her rapier again. Looking straight into her master´s eyes, she waited for her next instruction.

"I am afraid that that is beyond my capacity, Princess." Impa raised from the bench and moved towards Zelda with slow and unsteady feet. The Sheikah was once the fiercest warrior of her tribe, but now she was old and weak and had only experience to account for her old glory.

"And why is that?" Zelda asked, getting angry with the other woman.

"Because you don´t want me to. If Your Highness really wanted to learn her abilities to their fullest, she would commit to the great amount of time required to do so. In two weeks' time, there isn´t much anyone can do for you."

Zelda felt defeated. Although they were not friends or even close to each other, Impa was an important part of her life and getting approval from her master would do wonders to ease her doubts. She knew it would happen, because Impa never shied away from pointing out Zelda´s flaws, but it still was disheartening that she would not be able to be in good terms with the Sheikah about this. However, Zelda could not let her own father and king down.

She was about to tell all of that to Impa when one of the royal guards approached the training ground and, bowing low at the waist, said "Your highness, I beg your pardon for interrupting, but Queen Ambi and Prince Raye arrived a while ago and they wish to meet with you."

Zelda´s frustration due to the outcome of her talk with Impa was still strong in her mind, and she could already feel tired from using her magic, but maybe meeting Ambi and Raye would improve her mood a little. "Tell them I will meet them on the Royal Gardens in one hour." She answered the woman, who turned around and left the Princess once again alone with the Sheikah.

They looked at each for a short while, understanding that neither of them would be able to change the other´s mind. Zelda broke the silence without trying to hide the sadness in her voice "It is a shame we cannot agree on this, Impa, but I promise I will cherish our training sessions until the time of my departure comes, and you will always have my undivided attention."

"It is indeed a shame, Princess. We will need to increase our time together, so I can teach as much as I can." The woman answered, and if she was really affected by their situation, Zelda would never know, for the elder´s face betrayed no emotion.

"Of course. I will see to it. But I am afraid I must leave now, if you will excuse me." Zelda said, nodding respectfully at her master. She changed back into her dress and went to her chambers for a quick bath and a change of clothes.

###

Zelda was struggling to step out of the bathtub. The hot and scented water was soothing her muscles and bringing her a calm she knew would soon disappear. Soon, this comfortable bathtub would be replaced with the cold waters of Ordon Village´s river. The clean and tailored dresses would turn into peasant´s clothes and she still had no idea of how she would eat. The battalion's General, Sir Molt, had said Sheik would be in charge of preparing their food. Zelda had tasted his cooking once and it was atrocious, so she could only assume that the General was joking.

She had never seen herself as a spoiled princess. She wouldn´t mind getting her dresses or hands dirty. She liked archery, rapier fight and was doing a great job at her "royal classes", as she liked to call the daily lectures she had with professor Shad, when she was instructed in legal affairs, negotiation, taxation, war strategy, leadership, and everything else her father though important for the future queen to learn. She was working hard, maybe even harder than the king had, in order to become a good queen for Hyrule. But it was one thing doing of all of that in the safety of her castle, doing that in Ordon Village was another matter entirely.

Since they didn´t know for how long she would remain in Ordon Village, her father and the General agreed that only Sir Molt himself, his immediate in command and Sheik would know about Zelda´s presence in the village for safety reasons, so she would have to become someone else. They would have to come up a new name and background story for her and for Sheik that explained why they were there, as they would pretty much be left on their own without the protection of the army.

She had been raised to become a queen and ruling over Hyrule was the only future possible for her. Truth to be told, she cherished that idea a lot. She loved Hyrule like a parent and that was the reason she enjoyed Shad´s classes so much. Zelda knew she still had a lot to learn, but her whole heart was set on becoming better and, with her father´s instruction, she hoped that by the time she turned twenty-one, she would be prepared. She would be queen because of her bloodline, but she would be a good queen because that´s what she wanted to be.

That´s why the idea of being a "normal" girl was alien to her and opened up many possibilities…far too many in her opinion.

Zelda sighted and with a lot of willpower she finished her bath before moving back to her bedroom. Her maids certainly would be waiting to help her to get ready.

As soon as she stepped out of the bathroom, Zelda´s maids started helping her with her dress, hair and makeup.

It was a warm summer afternoon, and the sunlight invaded the room heating up Zelda´s back. The bath had been so relaxing, and her bed behind her looked so inviting. Kari´s gentle hands brushing her hair were definitely not helping her eyes to stay open. If she could only take a nap…

"Are you excited to be meeting with Prince Raye after so long, Your Highness?" whispered Kari, the youngest of her maids.

Zelda shot her eyes open and answered "Yes, I am. It´s been nearly half a year, if my memory is correct."

"I bet he´ll be thrilled to see you now, Your Highness. You have grown so much during this time. He will be speechless." The woman said with a girlish smile. She was on her early twenties and was the one closest to Zelda. At least close enough for the occasional gossip.

"I'm not sure if he's speechless because of me or because there's always people giggling whenever we meet. That could make anyone nervous." Zelda replied with humor.

The woman laughed lightly. "I'm sure it's because of you, Your Highness. I've seen a few young suitors trying to get in your favor, but Prince Raye is the only one who has never looked at anyone else. All the others would occasionally flirt with the other maids and servants, but not him. He' s a real gentleman." The woman finished brushing Zelda´s hair and started arranging it in its traditional braid.

Zelda should have been happy with Kari´s words. In everyone´s eyes, their engagement was inevitable. King Daphnes never tried to hide his preference for the suitor from Labrynna and if they were eighteen already, they would surely be married. She grew up with this certainty, that she would marry Raye and in her mind, it was just part of how things were supposed to be. She would be schooled in the ways of a ruler, get married, become queen, bare children and die. That was the natural flow of things.

And it wasn´t that the prospect of marrying him didn´t make her heart beat faster, it sure did. She just wasn´t sure of the reason anymore.

"He´s a gentleman, indeed." She finally answered her maid.

Kari started humming a song to fill the momentary silence and Zelda´s eyes grew tired once again. The song was soothing. Kari would always hum that same song when working on Zelda´s hair, it had become a welcomed tradition. But at that moment, with the sun warming up the room, the soft summer wind blowing through the window, Zelda felt her head tilt to the side. She quickly recovered and opened her eyes, looking at her maid through the mirror. The woman was looking at her with a concerned face.

"Would you like to postpone the meeting with the Prince, Your Highness?" she asked.

Zelda shook her head negatively. "That won´t be necessary. I had another magical training with Impa today, so I'm just a little tired, that´s all."

"Oh, I see. Then I´m impressed you are not sleeping, Princess. If I may be so bold to say, Your Highness usually takes a nap after these trainings." The woman said while finishing Zelda´s hair.

"You´re right, Kari. I usually do take a nap! Maybe I´m getting stronger, right?" Zelda said with a hopeful smile.

"I´m sure it is a good sign, yes, Your Highness." Kari smiled as well.

 _Father will be happy to know_ , Zelda thought, and the sudden happiness made the tiredness disappear.

When the maids were done with her, Zelda was ready to meet with her soon-to-be fiancé. The white and purple dress had a fine embroidery at the end of its skirts and, at her waist, there was a golden belt carrying the Nohansen´s family crest.

Zelda thanked her maids and made her way to the Royal Gardens.

The Royal Gardens were a vast area located between the north and the east towers. Surrounded by the castle´s walls, the garden possessed a diverse collection of flowers and small trees, all perfectly and beautifully arranged by the skillful gardeners that took care of the place. The obvious love and commitment employed on this place made it become Zelda´s haven.

She found Raye having tea with his mother, Ambi, beneath the ornamented gazebo. They both stood up when acknowledging her presence, Ambi nodding respectfully, to which Zelda replied in the same way, and Raye bowing at the waist and kissing Zelda´s gloved hand.

"It is delightful to meet you on this fine afternoon, Princess Zelda." The Prince said with honesty in his eyes.

Zelda smiled politely and answered "It is indeed, Prince Raye. I hope you have not waited for long."

"I am afraid there is no such thing as "too long" when waiting in these gardens, Princess." It was Ambi who answered. "I must warn you for the possibility of me stealing your gardeners one of these days." She smiled the smile of a queen, polite and composed.

"I am glad you like our gardens so much, Queen Ambi, but I am not certain if Labrynna´s aid in the war is enough to pay for our gardeners. They are one of a kind."

Ambi chuckled slightly, which gave Zelda the impression she hadn´t meant to. "They are indeed, Princess. They are indeed."

Zelda motioned for them to sit while she served herself some tea. "How is Labrynna faring? Last time we spoke you mentioned some of your marines had spotted pirates nearby again. Will they be problematic?"

Ambi flinched at the question, making Zelda frown slightly in curiosity, but she quickly regained her composure and answered firmly. "Yes, Princess. The situation was handled effectively by our marines. The pirates will not be bothering us for a long time."

"I am glad to hear that." What was that? Sadness she saw in Ambi´s face? For some reason this was a sore subject for the Queen of Labrynna and Zelda thought better to change the topic. Out of concern for the ruler, but also because she really didn´t want to get into details about her neighbor´s situation. She had a lot to worry about Hyrule already. "Queen Ambi and Prince Raye, I would like to express my profound gratitude for your aid regarding my absence from the castle. It would not be easy to justify it without this alibi."

"We are glad we could be of service to Hyrule." It was Raye who answered. "Although your presence will be sorely missed."

Should Kari or one of her noble friends be present, they would definitely make Zelda remember this comment for weeks to come. "Thank you for your kind words, Prince Raye. It was not an easy decision, but it is what is best for Hyrule."

"As it should be, Princess." Queen Ambi finished her tea and stood up. "I am afraid I must leave you now, Princess. The war council is set to start soon and King Daphnes requires my presence."

Zelda stood as well and replied "Let me not keep you then, Queen Ambi. It was a pleasure meeting you today."

"The pleasure was all mine, Princess. We will depart for Labrynna in two days. I hope we can meet once again until then."

"It will be a busy period for the both of us, but I will see to it."

They exchanged farewells and Queen Ambi left for the meeting, leaving Zelda and Raye alone, save for the guards posted on the garden´s walls.

They sat in an awkward silence, Zelda trying to find a subject, any subject, to talk to him about, but nothing came to her mind. She served herself more tea, just to have an excuse for not speaking.

It was him who broke the silence. "You are very brave to venture to an unknown village to protect your kingdom, Princess. I commend you for that. Although if you allow me to ask, aren´t you concerned of how difficult or how long it might be?"

Zelda almost laughed at his question. "I certainly am concerned, Prince. I am concerned of leaving my father; I am concerned of living a life I was never prepared for; I am concerned they will not attack Ordon, but another site instead, and I will not be there to help; I am also concerned that they will attack Ordon and I will have to deal with them. But wars are not supposed to be easy, are they?" _What are you doing?_ , Zelda thought, you are _saying too much_. "But worry not, Prince. I will have General Molt and Sheik to protect me. Besides, I am not helpless myself." She forced a smile.

"It is unfortunate that you must handle the consequences of someone else´s decision. This war is not yours, yet you are the one who is going to have to leave your home to settle it." There was real sorrow in his eyes, which should had made Zelda feel flattered, but she felt angry instead. How could he say that, when so many soldiers had left their families in order to fight a war that also wasn´t theirs? She at least had her magic, General Molt, Sheik and the whole of Hyrule´s army to protect her if needed be, but the soldiers had only their skills and faith that they were sacrificing their comfort, and maybe even their lives in order to achieve a greater good. And then there were the people, who were another matter entirely.

She looked at him ready say all of that and try to make him see things from the perspective of someone who hadn´t been raised their entirely life protected and safe by castle walls and propriety. But who was she to do that? She had also been raised in those same conditions and hadn´t experienced any real hardship.

She sighed and said instead "This war is Hyrule´s, so it is mine. I am concerned, yes, but I will be profoundly happy if I can do at least one thing that can help keep my home and my people safe."

"As it should be, Princess. Your heart is very gentle, and I am proud that Labrynna is Hyrule´s ally if only for the certainty that their future ruler is such a selfless person."

It was tiring, really. He always tried to flatter her somehow. Couldn´t he see that he didn´t have to try so hard? They were practically married already. "I thank you again for your kind words, Prince. I will try to live up to your expectations." He moved to reply to her, _another flatter for sure_ , but she was faster. "Unfortunately, I am afraid I must excuse myself. I promised Impa I would intensify my training with her for the remainder of the time I have in here and we still must work on a schedule."

"Of course, Princess. I hope you can join us for dinner later tonight?"

"I will see to it, Prince. If you and Queen Ambi are to leave in just two days, I will make sure to make the most out of it." She smiled gently.

"I will look forward to it." He kissed her hand again and Zelda left to look for Impa.

The relief she felt to be on her own again made her worry that this wasn´t how one was supposed to feel after leaving the presence of the person who was supposed to be their spouse. _He is just trying to be gallant_ , she thought, _it will get better._

###

During the next two weeks, Zelda focused all of her time on training with Impa. Her classes with Shad had been canceled, and so was archery and rapier training. Her every productive hour was devoted to getting stronger and getting her magic right.

She only ate when Sheik practically dragged her out of the training ground and she moved her dinner to her chambers, where it was closer to her bed, and less time-consuming.

True to their words, Queen Ambi and Prince Raye had left two days after their meeting at the gardens. King Daphnes, Zelda and a few other nobles and counselors had been present for the farewells, and to Zelda´s dismay, so was Sheik. So, at that moment, Zelda didn´t have to handle only Kari sighing at hour romantic Raye was, but also Sheik´s constant mockery and for a while she regretted having invited, _well, practically begged,_ him to come to Ordon with her. How much longer until he forgets it?

"Princess, were you listening to me?" Said Sheik on her left as they walked towards Zelda´s study to meet with Sir Molt and Impa to make the final arrangements for their departure in only two hours.

"Sorry, Sheik, I was distracted. Could you say it again?"

"I was asking if you decided on a new name already? I will have to start practicing it as soon as possible."

"I have a few names in mind, but I haven´t decided yet. But the name should be easy for you to learn, what you really must practice is the background story. Besides, I thought you´d just start calling me "woman" all of the time. Oh no, wait, you already do that."

"It would be so much easier, but it might be offensive for some." Sheik said with a confused face.

"Oh, you think so?"

He only laughed.

They arrived at her study to find Sir Molt and Impa already waiting by her door. Sir Molt was already wearing his armor and the hardness in his face was enough to scare many. A significant amount of people considered the man a brute, and his impressive size didn´t do much to steer off these rumors.

"Sir Molt, Impa, please come in." She gestured them inside and followed suit. "Sir Molt, it appears everything is ready for our travel. Are the men ready? Please, take a seat."

"They are. Everything is set. But the both of you will have to take on disguises, at least until we reach Ordon. Although most of the men haven´t met you in person, Sheik is very recognizable, since there are only two people in the whole castle with white hair."

"It will be arranged." Impa said. "I will have his hair painted black with magic. It should last for the entirety of the travel".

"Good, and you, Princess, I believe just simpler clothes and letting your hair loose will be enough." Sir Molt replied while gesturing to her hair and clothes.

For a second, Zelda was taken aback by how directly he was talking to her, but she managed to recover quickly. _Better get used to it_ , she thought. "It sounds fair, Sir Molt. I will get ready as soon as this meeting is over. If I recall correctly, the only thing we have not decided yet is about where Sheik and I will stay once we are in Ordon."

"That's correct. I discussed this with my immediate, and we both agree that you shouldn´t be too close to the army. Even though many of them haven't seen you, your presence might arise suspicion."

"But shouldn´t it be better for the Princess to stay close to as much protection as possible? If there is indeed an attack, her safety is the priority." Impa asked.

"If there´s indeed an attack we are the ones counting on her for protection. What we cannot do is risk the information of her presence in Ordon to leak to our enemies. If Lorule finds out that the next ruler of Hyrule is so close to them, she will become their target. Besides, that´s why Sheik will be there, isn´t it?"

"Do not worry, Sir Molt, the Princess will not be defenseless." Sheik answered from his position by the window. "But I must insist we´re constantly informed of what´s happening in the battlefield. We must hold meetings for you to brief us. We can decide on a schedule during our travel."

"Good. We'll make a settlement or find a house for the two of you once we get there. I believe that´s it for now. We´ll meet at the garden´s gate. I'll send my immediate to accompany you. You cannot be seen with the main party." Sir Molt said in a hurry. He had already stood up and moved to the door.

"It will be as you say, Sir Molt." Zelda replied quickly. The man obviously had many more things to arrange.

He nodded and left.

The three of them remained in the room in a sudden silence. Zelda looked at Impa, who was sitting on one of the chairs in front of her. The Sheikah´s cane was shaking along with her old hands and to Zelda, she had never looked so fragile. She looked back at Zelda at opened her mouth, but before saying any words, she closed it again and looked back at her hands.

Instead, she said. "Sheik, meet me at my chambers in one hour. I have to fix your hair." The man nodded in agreement and she continued. "Princess, although I don´t agree with this, I bid you safe travel. And may the Three be on your side." She stood up and walked to the door.

The woman´s facial expression was unreadable. But there was honesty in her words, and that made Zelda smile and say in return. "I thank you, Impa. For your words and for your dedication to my training."

Impa stopped with the door opened in front of her. She turned her head lightly and looked at Zelda over her shoulder. "I just hope it'll do you better than it did your mother." And she left.

She said that like she used to say everything else, with a calm and cold voice, which only made Zelda confused as to why she had suddenly become so sad.

Zelda stood up and joined Sheik by the south window. She looked outside, first, her eyes found the stables down below. The horses that remained were the bright beautiful stallions of the nobles. The strong and dangerous ones had already been prepared for the travel.

Then, her eyes travelled to Castle Town and its many houses. Zelda had been in Castle Town a few times and in all of them she felt dazzled and a bit overwhelmed at how intense the atmosphere was. People were smiling, and dancing, and yelling, and crying, all in a succession of colors and music.

Lastly, she looked at the horizon, the only discernible shape was the massive wall of trees that marked the beginning of Faron Woods. She had definitely never been that far before and the trees hid everything beyond them, making it a mysterious place of which Zelda had never imagined going.

She sighed, which made Sheik look at her in concern. "What?", he said.

"What do you think we´ll find there? Do you think people will accept us? Or do you think they´re too hardened by the war to even care?"

"Ordon is said to have lively and strong-willed people. I think everything´ll be fine. Besides, how could anyone not fall for your charms when you are indeed the Goddess incarnate, oh my fair maiden." He finished with a mocking bow.

"Okay, now you are making things up. He never said any of this." She crossed her arms and looked at him disapprovingly.

He was laughing with such satisfaction. She admitted it was funny…the first twenty times he had said it. Now it was just plainly annoying.

"I beg your pardon, jewel of Hyrule. May Din strike the man who ever attempts to anger you."

She started punching his arm. "Ahh, I hate you. Be useful and tell my father we're leaving. I would like to meet with him at the garden´s gate."

He stopped laughing then, and looked at her with a weird expression. What was that? Pity? Hurt? "The king is at a meeting with Lord Cyril and some other nobles from Lanayru region. He said it was important and…that he should not be disturbed."

"That´s ridiculous. Was he informed we´re leaving today?"

"He was." The sadness in his face told her it was all true. Her heart broke. How could he do that? He didn´t know when he would see her next.

"Then go get ready. We have very little time." She tried hardening her face, but Sheik knew her too well.

"Zelda…" He started, but she didn´t let him finish.

"Not now, Sheik. We can talk on the road." She said firmly, but he didn´t move, so she had to add "Please."

He sighed. "Okay, but we´ll talk about this. What would our beloved Prince Raye do to me if I allowed the brave Princess of Hyrule to be so gloomy?"

"You really won´t stop, will you? I´ll just ignore you, then." She looked back at the windows while he chuckled and left.

The sun reaching its peak made Faron´s trees shine bright green in the distance. The sight was beautiful and ethereal and for a moment, Zelda forgot her worries and sadness. It was like the woods were alive and calling out to her, leaving her with a feeling she could only describe as longing.

 _Maybe it won´t be that bad_ , she thought.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author´s note:**

1 - I´ve been trying to upload this chapter since yesterday morning, but FFN won´t let me. Only now I found a way around and managed to upload. Sorry guys.

 **Answer to review:**

Lilyanna32: Thank you so much! I´m loving writing Sheik as well :)

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

The dawn of another busy day awoke Ordon Village. The newly risen summer sun still wasn´t hot enough to warm up the chill from the previous night. The villagers started preparing breakfast and getting themselves ready for their daily activities. The anticipation for the arrival of another detachment of soldiers from Hyrule Castle brought a sense of urgency to everyone´s routine.

Everyone´s except for Link, who had awoken with the sun, but was still on his bed, overcome with laziness. It wasn´t until he heard a soft nock on his door that he found the energy to stand up to start with his duties.

"I´m coming" he said while yawning. He slowly changed his old and baggy pants clean ones and put on a white, sleeveless shirt. He washed his face and mouth and after uselessly trying to comb his sandy blond hair, he left the bedroom and went to the house´s lower level, where the kitchen was.

Once again, little Aryll was waiting for him, and she didn´t look happy.

"You´re late again, Link! I´m hungry!" She said, frowning.

"Good morning to you as well, little one." He answered, while starting to prepare their breakfast. "But I´m sorry, I lost track of time again." He sighed and looked at her, but she was still frowning at him.

"You say that every day. You´re too lazy!" She turned her face to the side in an attempt to show how mad she was, but with her small size and round cheeks, Link couldn´t help but laugh, which only made the girl even angrier.

"I´m sorry, I´m sorry." He tried to compose himself. Since she didn´t answer, he had to add. "Such a shame you´re mad at me. Here I was thinking I could take you to Rusl´s place to play with Colin for a change."

Her expression changed in a heartbeat. "Really?! I´m not mad, Link! I´m not."

"Ah, much better." He chuckled. "I´ll take you there after breakfast, but you have to eat it all, even the veggies!"

She frowned at the veggies, but didn´t complain.

Link would always be thankful for all the times that Ilia had babysat Aryll, but he would much prefer when she played with kids her own age and, since his house was the only one so close to the army´s settlement, he didn´t like to leave the two girls alone there. Besides, the other girl had her hands full already with all the horses she had to take care of. With the continuous presence of such a large share of the army, the whole village received extra workload. Preferably, the soldiers would take care of their own horses, armor, food and other things, but still sometimes they required the villager´s aid. _And things are about to get worse_ , Link thought.

After they finished breakfast, Link helped her get ready, picked up his sword and they went to his master´s house.

Rusl´s place was located in Ordon's far southeast, along with the majority of the other houses. Link always liked coming to this part of the village, where busy people shouted and ran the entire day in order to get their work done; where every day by twilight, the same people would gather together to laugh and to gossip. This part of the village was alive with scents, colors and joy that not even the looming shadow of war could disperse.

When they arrived at Rusl´s house, his wife, Uli, was placing training dummies in the yard for the next sword practice, which would had been a normal activity if only the woman were not in the middle of a pregnancy.

"Halt there, madam!" Link said in a strong voice. "I think we´ve had this conversation before. Pregnant women do not lift heavy training dummies. Here, let me." He motioned her away and took the remaining ones and started placing them in their right positions.

She looked at him disapprovingly but did as he said. "Yes, Link! We´ve had this conversation far too many times, and once again, I´m pregnant, not debilitated." She sat on the chair in her porch. "Hello there, Aryll." Uli opened her arms to welcome the little girl.

"Hi, Uli" Aryll´s smile was missing two teeth when she walked to Uli and hugged her. "Link said I can play with Colin today."

"So I´ve heard, sweetheart. Come on inside, he´s just as happy as you are."

"Okay. Link, when are you coming back?" Aryll asked her brother, who had finished with the dummies and sat on the porch´s floor in front of Uli.

"By twilight. I´ll be in the forest the whole day." He answered her.

"Okay, see you later." She kissed his cheek and ran inside.

"You behave!" Link shouted, but he got no answer. "Whoever sees how happy she is might think that she hasn't seen Colin in a year."

"Let kids be kids. You used to have just as much energy when you were her age. Until you became such a lazy man, that is. Aren´t you late for meeting with Aleric…again?" Uli said.

He sighed and answered, "I know, I know." Link stood up and stretched. "I´ll be on my way, then. No one wants an angry Aleric. Thank you for taking care of Aryll today. I´m not sure Ilia would be able to."

"Don´t worry, sweetie. It´s a pleasure to have her here."

He smiled at Uli. "Ah oh, next time I see you carrying weight, I´m telling Rusl."

"You´re worse than Rusl, so that should be fine."

"Uli!"

"Fine! I´ll be on this chair for the rest of the day." She said sarcastically.

"You better!" Link answered and started to leave the yard. "Bye, Uli. I´ll see you later."

"Good bye, Link" She shouted.

###

Aru´s house was just a few houses below and Link got there fast. He knocked at the door and heard the boy´s voice shout "It´s open."

Link went inside the house to find him sitting on the living room´s floor, putting bandages, medicines and other medical tools, that Link was not familiar with, inside a brown valise. He was wearing an old white shirt and soft blue pants that looked too big on him, making his small demeanor look even more fragile.

Aru didn´t look up to Link when he said "G´morning, Link. Aleric is upstairs. And yes, he´s mad."

"G´morning, Aru. I´m waiting here, then." Link said, sitting on the couch. "What are you doing? Are you going to the soldier´s settlement today?"

"No, my dad is. He only takes me there on rare occasions, so I can practice. He also thinks it´s better to have someone here in case of emergencies." Aru replied.

"That makes sense. Are you guys going to the lake tonight?" Link asked. Swimming on the lake was a tradition during the hottest nights on summer, which meant at least twice a week.

"My dad will be home early today, so sure! I didn´t see any clouds outside, so I think it´s going to be another very hot and dry day." Aru finished packing the valise, stood up and stretched. He then looked back, towards the staircase, and yelled. "Dad, I finished packing. Al, Link is here."

Link heard Aru´s father´s strong voice reply "Okay" at the same time Aleric´s thick one said "Finally!".

Seconds later, Aru´s father, Ren, came down the stairs wearing his traditional white clothing that screamed "healer" to everyone around. Similar to Aru, the man had pale blue eyes, but that was pretty much all the resemblance they shared. Ren was a tall man of fifty-three, strong and had broad shoulders. His hair was dark brown, matching his thick beard. To anyone who didn´t know him, he looked like an intimidating man, but it didn´t take long to understand where Aru had taken his personality from. To Link, they both were the most easy-going people he knew.

"Good morning, Link. It´s good to see you! How´s little Aryll?" Ren asked while picking the valise from his son´s hand.

"Good morning, Mister Ren. She´s doing fine. She was very excited to spend the day at Rusl´s today." Link answered. "What about you? Going a lot to the settlement?"

"It´s been busy, yes. They haven´t run into any battle these days, but still have many injured from the last one. They have two healers with them, but they´re not enough, so I´m going there almost every day now."

"I see. And soon there´ll be more, right? Do you know when they arrive?" Link asked.

"I heard they departed from Castle Town about three days ago, so they should be arriving in two days tops. I´ll probably need to take Aru with me when they arrive. He´s become really good at this, my boy. Well, you know this better than me, probably." Ren laughed. "Are you going to the forest again? Try not to come back with too many scars this time."

"I am, but I´m waiting for Aleric. And don´t worry, today I´ll just try Aleric´s new weapons to give him feedback, nothing dangerous. But yes, Aru's pretty good, especially with a needle."

"Of course I am. I have to patch you up almost every week! But serious, though, are you taking the potions I gave you last time?" Aru asked.

"I am. Don´t worry, man. Relax!" Link answered.

Heavy footsteps could be heard as Aleric descended the staircase with a huge leather bag, tinkling with weapons. He glared at Link angrily. "Ready, princess?" He said.

"Don´t look at me like that. Why would you want to wake up at dawn, anyway? We don´t have much to do today." Link answered.

"Because the later we go, the hotter it gets?"

"Why should you care? I´m the one doing all the heavy work. You´ll just sit there and watch."

"Boys, the day is too beautiful for your traditional bicker. Use your energy for practice." Ren intervened. "I´ll be on my way now." He hugged them good-bye, a tradition Link was yet not used to since he wasn´t so fond of physical contact and moved to the door. "Bye, boys. Aru, I won´t have dinner here, but I´ll be home before sunset."

"Okay, be safe." Aru answered.

When Aru´s father left the room, Link and Aleric exchanged angry looks. Then they both sighed, and the fight was over.

"Let´s go." Link said and stood up.

"Al, will you be home for dinner? Otherwise I´ll eat at Uli´s. I´m not cooking just for myself." Aru said.

"It depends on how long it will take our hero to try my weapons. Last time he got tired mid-way through and we had to take a break…three times." Aleric answered, with a slight hint of humor. It was subtle, but it was there, which was enough for Link to know that the man wasn't angry anymore.

"If he learnt how to make them lighter we wouldn´t have that problem." Link answered looking at Aru, who just looked at them with a bored face.

"Oh yeah, that´s right. I keep forgetting how weak our hero is. How stupid of me!" Aleric replied with faked pain.

"By the Three, you two are on fire today. Just go already!" Aru replied annoyed. "An Al, quit with the hero thing. We can´t risk anyone knowing, remember?"

"I know, but it´s just us now." Aleric replied.

"Either way, it´s better if we don´t talk about it." Aru said decisively.

Aleric told Link that three days ago, when Link and Aleric were at Rusl´s blacksmith shop, they were talking when, according to Aleric, Link suddenly stopped mid-sentence and looked north with a blank face. He started walking without saying a word and left the shop. Aleric, concerned, followed his friend outside. Link stopped right before the forest´s entrance and kept looking forward dreamily. That was when Aleric saw a soft glow on the boy´s left hand. He had looked closely to see a triangular shape drawing on Link´s hand, the bottom-left shining brighter than the rest.

Aleric said that Link stood there like a statue for a good while, until he suddenly said "She´s coming." Then, Link blinked several times and looked around as if trying to understand where he was.

Link didn´t remember a thing.

The legend of the hero who carried Farore´s piece of the triforce was well known through all of Hyrule, and Aleric´s immediate conclusion was that Link was the hero.

Link had asked Aleric to keep this between them and not tell a soul but asking Aleric to keep secrets from Aru was always a waste of time.

Aleric sighed and replied "Fine, fine! Did anybody ever tell you that you worry too much? But okay, we´re going. I will be here for dinner, yes."

"Okay. Be safe." Aru answered.

They both hugged each other and Link and Aleric were finally off to the forest.

###

Link had already tried Aleric´s daggers, axes, hammers and rapiers. His arms were starting to feel heavy and he was sweating profusely. The sun had passed its peak a while ago, so Link assumed they were in the middle of the afternoon already. The part of the forest they had chosen provided as much comfort from the heat as possible. On the left side, there was a small cliff that allowed occasional gushes of wind. Below the cliff, the refreshing waters of Ordon´s river made the summer air less insufferable. The trees provided a great amount of shadows that decreased the strength of the sun rays on them, but the air was still hot, making Link´s skin feel sticky and full of dust. He took a look at the pile of weapons still to be tested and moaned tiredly.

Truth to be told, Aleric´s weapons were fantastic. The steel had the perfect balance between lightness and endurance. They were not made from the best materials, but Aleric, somehow, managed to turn those not-so-good materials into something worthy of a knight of Hyrule. Link could totally see the young man becoming the main blacksmith of the Royal Guard. Rusl still owned the shop, but Aleric was the responsible for the vast majority of all of their work.

"How is that deal with the Royal Guard going?" Link asked while swinging the sword at the tree trunk.

"Aru said that that they would talk about prices again when the general returned from Castle Town. They seemed very pleased with the weapons and the fact that I´m so close to them. But it all depends on how the war develops. I honestly hope they all just go away and we don´t have to live under constant threat anymore." Aleric answered while polishing the weapons that Link had already tested.

"You can say that twice." Link gave one last swing at that sword before deeming it "good" and putting it on the pile for Aleric to polish. He sat for a while to rest his arms. "I mean, they could at least help us out with the bulblins, bokoblins and wolvos out there. There are so many soldiers, and if you ask me, they don´t have that much to do."

Aleric laughed and said "But of course they have! Can´t you hear how loud they get some nights? The ale won´t drink itself, Link."

"Oh, I hear them all right. My house is the closest to their settlement. And it´s not like these trees help out a lot with soundproofing.". Link allowed himself a moment of rest and laid down on the forest floor.

Aleric laughed and kept on polishing the weapons that Link had finished. After moment of comfortable silence, he added. "Aren´t you, I don´t know, hesitant, to live so close to them? Don´t you want to move in closer to Rusl and Uli?"

"I´m not afraid for me, but I hate it when I have to leave Aryll and Ilia alone in the house. Today It´s better because Aryll is at Uli´s, but she can´t babysit her all the time. Especially now that she´s pregnant."

"Do you know when the baby is due?" Aleric asked. He stood up and started placing targets on the trees.

"She said in about three, four months." Link answered.

"Hmm." Was Aleric´s reply. He finished with the targets and removed from his leather bag a new set of weapons for Link to practice with. "These are the new hook shots. Rusl helped me with the design, but I´m not sure if the pressure is okay so, just pay attention if you think the pull is too strong or too weak. I tried them a few times and I think the aim is at least okay."

"Nice! I haven´t played with hook shots in a while now. This should be fun." Link stood up and started practicing with the hook shots. He hit the target tree times with precision and announced that that one was okay.

It took Link another hour to thoroughly examine Aleric´s hook shots. Only in two of them the pressure was too strong, and Aleric separated them for later adjustments.

After hitting the tree one last time, Link stretched out lazily and allowed himself a moment to rest his sore muscles. "Din, it´s so hot today. It´s definitely a lake day. Are you coming?" He asked.

"I am. I´ll just help Aru finish dinner and we´ll be there."

"Great. I´ll pick Aryll at Uli´s. Colin´s probably coming too. I have a feeling it will be crowded today."

Aleric suddenly knelt to his bag once again, saying "Colin! I almost forgot. It´s his birthday in two weeks and I´ve made him a wooden slingshot. Try this one too." He said, giving it to Link.

"Din, I didn´t think of anything to give him yet." Link answered, taking the slingshot. "You´re giving him something cool, so I´ll have to think hard. I can´t be the boring one." He tried the elasticity of the slingshot a few times before taking a small rock from the forest floor and taking aim. He stretched the rubber rope with all of his strength and, despite of how much Aleric teased him, Link knew he was pretty strong. Swiftly, he moved his arms to the left and closed his right eye to help with the aim.

To his shock, there, between the trees that Link had suddenly turned to, was a girl. She was covered in a dark blue cloak and, with the hood up, Link couldn´t see anything of her but the eyes. In that moment, Link understood that a second can last for a lifetime. There was power in those eyes. A power that captured his entire being and made all thoughts vanish from his mind. The only thing left was a memory that Link didn´t quite knew whose was. In it, he saw a blonde-haired girl, all dressed in white, holding the hand of a green clothed boy on top of a goddess statue. He couldn´t see their faces, but it was the feeling that the memory evoked that mesmerized him. _Finally_ , he thought, the _world has been made right again_.

Link could had continued staring at those eyes, paralyzed, for as long as she wanted him to, but that one second was cut short when he felt his fingers release the rubber rope. The stone was released in all its fury and, no matter how much Link wanted to change its trajectory; how much he wanted to ease its speed and make it fall flat right in front of him; or how much he wanted that she would just move a few steps to the side, the stone had been thrown and it was too late.

Link could only stare in disbelief when that goddesses forsaken stone hit the girl right in her forehead. Her head immediately snapped backwards, and he could hear a surprised yelp **.** The girl lost her balance and stumbled a few steps back. Link´s heart froze as, with each step, she came closer and closer to the edge of the cliff. He ran as fast as his reflexes allowed him to, but it was too late. With three unsteady steps, she reached the edge and Link could only see the muss of dark blue cloak when she fell off.

He kept on running towards the edge and he could hear Aleric following him close behind. He quickly climbed the way down and found her laying by the river bank, body soaked and unmoving.

Aleric joined him and looked just as shocked as Link. "Goddess, Link! Where did she come from?!"

"I…I have no idea! She was just there out of nowhere!"

They both knelt at each side of the girl and waited for any signal of life. Link reached for the hood that was covering her face and pulled it backwards, revealing a mess of wet auburn hair and the most beautiful face he had ever seen. The spot where the stone had hit her was bleeding and starting to swell. To his immense relief, he saw her chest rise up and down.

"She´s alive! Farore, she´s alive! Thank the goddess!" Link said and they both sighed.

"Hurry, we should take her to Aru." Said Aleric.

"Here, let me." Said Link, turning his back to the girl and motioning for Aleric to help him put her on his back.

"Okay, I´ll pack everything up and meet you there." Aleric replied.

When Link was sure that she wouldn´t fall off, he hurried back to Aru´s place.

 _How did that happen?_ Link thought while running as fast as he could through the thick forest. Many questions were storming his frenzied mind. _Where did she come from? Who is she? I have never seen her in Ordon before. What was she doing so deep into the woods?_ But the question that was bugging him the most was _: What was that feeling when I saw her?_ He had felt the back of his left hand go warm and he knew that, if he had removed the training gloves, his hand would be glowing with the same light from that day at Rusl´s blacksmith shop. It was like the triforce piece had suddenly come alive inside of him and in that moment, he was sure that he really was the Hero of Hyrule incarnate.

He just didn´t know why.

* * *

Extra:

So, what do you guys think? I rewrote this chapter some times because I wasn´t sure about the pacing. Please, let me know your thoughts. Constructive criticism are highly appreciated. Please review or PM me :)


	7. Chapter 7

**Answers to reviews:**

Frost 55: Thank you very much for your review! Questions 1, 2 and partially 3 are answered in this chapter. About question 4, I´m following FFN´s guidelines, so there won´t be any explicit content. I rated M so I can have more freedom with curses and more sexual references in the future, but then again, nothing explicit.

Kersplunk: Thank you! I´m super glad you liked it :) It was hard. I went over it several times. I wanted to make our beloved hero a nice character, hehe. I hope you like this one too.

Thank you, guys. I had a rough week, and once in a while I would take a look at your reviews and my precious comments from my beta Lilyanna32 to make me happy :)

Also thanks to everyone who are following or favorited this story. You are the MVP!

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

Zelda woke up with a massive pain in her head. Her memory was still foggy, and the only thing she remembered was her head yanking aggressively backwards until she fell. That had happened in a forest, but the place she was at the moment was a room, small and very well illuminated. _Where am I?_ she thought.

She looked around, trying to find her bearings. She was laying on a very comfortable bed, with a light blue sheet covering her. The room around her was composed of the bed, sitting parallel under an open window, a shelf with many books to her left and a writing desk and chair right beside it. On top of the writing desk, there was a jug with water, a basin and many towels and bandages, some of them unfolded. To her right, there was a small wardrobe and a heating stove. In the middle of the room, there was a low, round table, and the door was right opposite to the bed.

She sat on the bed and looked through the window. It was night already, and the rain fell fiercely outside, bringing the smell of summer with it. The lack of moon made it impossible for her to determine how well into the night it was.

The door to the room opened and she looked, warily, as a boy walked in with a tray in his hands. When realizing she was awake, he gasped in surprise and placed the tray on top of the small round table in the middle of the room. He rushed to the bed and examined her face with a critical eye. When he moved his hand to touch her face, she backed away from him, frowning.

"Don´t worry. I´m a healer. I just want to make sure your head stopped bleeding." He said.

His voice was soft and, although his words weren´t enough to make her trust him entirely, she allowed him to examine her face. He checked her eyes and her forehead, which, she hadn't realized before, was wrapped in a bandage.

"Good. It´s not bleeding anymore. You didn´t need any stiches, but I still think you´ll have a small scar as a souvenir." He grabbed the chair that was close to the writing desk and placed it in front of her bed. He sat on it and grabbed the tray from the round table. "Here. You should eat something." He said, giving her the tray.

"Thank you" Zelda said, taking the tray. "But I have questions, like, where am I? Or who are you? Or what am I doing here?" She looked down to the tray and that was when she realized she wasn´t wearing her clothes. She was wearing a plain white gown that went all the way to her feet. She touched the gown and eyed him suspiciously.

Seemingly understanding her concern, he chuckled and answered fast "You are at my house, my bedroom, in Ordon Village. Link brought you here after you fell. My name is Aru and I´m a healer. You´re here until you recover completely. And don´t worry, it wasn´t I who changed your clothes. I asked for the girls to do it."

Zelda decided to accept his answer. Even if it had been him, he was a healer, so it shouldn´t matter that much.

"What happened to me, anyway?" She asked, still forcing her memory to recollect the sequence of events.

"Link brought you here saying that there was an accident, you fell over the cliff in the forest and you had been passed out since then."

With that information, Zelda started to remember. In the day prior, the moon had long passed its peak when their party got close to the village. After entering the densest part of the forest, they started to hear loud noises and shrieks that got them all in high alert. General Molt, already experienced with the forest, said that there were some monsters in the area and everybody should be on guard.

Less than an hour later, the trees moved aggressively and many bokoblins started attacking everything in their way. Zelda counted at least eighteen, but she was sure there were more.

Since Sheik and Zelda had been traveling at the end of the party in order to not draw attention, there was only around seven soldiers, General Molt, Sheik and Zelda to deal with the dozens of monsters, which should had been more than enough, since those creatures, although fast, were not the strongest.

They were handling the creatures with ease until Zelda´s horse, which wasn´t used to narrow forests, and much less to frenetic battles, got spooked when an arrow landed far too close to his right hoof. He jumped on his back hooves and dashed blindly through the forest. She tried everything to calm him down: she soothed him, tried to steer his reins and even tried magic once. But when she finally made him stop running, she had no idea where she was.

It was completely dark in the forest and she didn´t know how to get back to the party. She stood there, unsure of what to do, until she heard the same noises from before and she knew it meant more monsters. Although she had handled them as well as everyone else, she didn´t know if she would be able to fight that many bokoblins alone. Back with the party, she was sure Sheik would be watching her back for any possible mistakes on her part, which gave her enough confidence to fight freely, but being alone, she knew any mistake could be her last.

Zelda decided that staying still in one place would be an invitation for the creatures to follow her scent, so she decided to keep moving towards Ordon.

She walked and walked for a long time with her horse trailing behind her. The sun started to come up in the sky, which reminded her that the last time she had eaten had been several hours ago and she didn´t have any food with her. Luckily, she didn´t have to worry about her horse, who every once in a while, would simply lower his head and feed on the forest´s grass.

She walked and walked for countless more hours, stopping only twice to rest her legs. It shouldn´t had taken her so long to reach the village; they had been pretty close already, so she could only assume she had gotten lost.

The heat increased by the hour and having to walk with her cloak and hood on, in case she encountered any soldier who could recognize her, made the task even more exhausting. Her horse looked at her reprovingly and she wondered if he was mad at her for bringing him to such a place, for not feeding him his favorite food or for spooking him. Probably a combination of all of those.

She was so tired and dirty. She didn´t know what she wanted more: food, a bath or a bed.

She walked straight until she reached a small cliff. Beneath it, there was an enticing river. The water was limpid and calm, and it would take her only a few steps to climb down the cliff. But the problem would be to climb back up. She wasn´t sure how much more strength she had left in her and, despite how much she needed water and a bath, she decided to keep moving along the cliff´s edge, trying to ease the heat a bit.

Zelda was about to sit on the forest floor again and give up on walking. It was well into the afternoon, and she didn´t think she would be attacked in broad daylight. She would wait there, and hope Sheik would find her faster than the monsters.

That was when she started hearing noises…no, voices! She heard at least two male voices not too far away. For a second, she felt relief, and was about to run to them, begging for food and water, but precaution settled in and she decided to evaluate them first. She had no idea what Ordon people would be like.

The voices were coming from a higher part of the forest and she would need to climb a few steps. Looking back at her horse, she didn´t think he would be able to make it up the hill. She signaled for him to stay put, which he complied immediately. She didn´t know if out of a higher intelligence on his part, or just pure exhaustion.

She climbed up and the voices became clearer. She could see them. They had many weapons with them, which made her feel wary. They were with their backs to her, so she couldn´t see their faces. Zelda tried moving closer to try and see them better. To her dismay, one of them, the one who was holding the weapon, turned swiftly to the left and his eyes landed straight on her.

Zelda thought she should have felt scared. An unknown man had spotted her alone so deep in the forest, and he had a weapon drawn straight to her, but strangely enough, she had never felt safer. One of his eyes was closed for aiming, and the one she could see was piercing blue and there was such strength to it she could not describe in words. She felt mesmerized by it and she knew she could stare at him all day. Suddenly, an unsolicited image came to her head; A memory she was sure was not hers. In it, there was a boy and a girl, separated from each other by an amber wall. The girl said something to the boy, who dropped his head and cried.

She felt a warmth in her left hand, and although it had been a long time since she had last felt her triforce piece, she knew that that feeling was coming from it, which meant her hand would be shining if she rolled the sleeve of her cloak up.

The intensity of that moment made her heart race and suddenly, she felt the urge to embrace him.

Gladly, she didn´t do it, because the boy suddenly released the stone he had been holding in his slingshot and it hit her right in the forehead. She lost her balance and that was the last thing she remembered.

Her mind came back to the cozy room she was in and she was overwhelmed with everything that had happened. She needed to find Sheik. Almost a full day had passed since she last saw him. He would surely be worried.

"Miss? Hey, miss. Are you ok?" Aru said.

"I´m sorry, I dozed off. What did you say?"

"I said that Link brought you from the forest. There was an accident and…"

"Link?" Zelda said, interrupting Aru. "You mean, the brute who tried to kill me? What did I do to him?"

Aru laughed at that, which only made Zelda angrier. "Link, a brute?" He laughed some more. "I don´t think he has the energy to be a brute to anybody. I don´t have the details, but Al told me it was an accident. So don´t worry, Link´s not trying to kill you. Actually, he is still here. He wanted me to let him see you. He was really worried, but I thought it best to let you rest. He said it was the stone that made you fall, but I´m not sure if that´s what made you pass out until now. You were severely dehydrated, and your feet were really swollen."

"My horse! I need to go back to my horse. I left the poor thing there." She tried to stand up, but Aru put his hand on her shoulder and motioned for her to stay calm.

"Al found your horse on his way back. He´s already fed and is now resting." He said.

"Thank you." Zelda said, finally eating the stew Aru had given her.

There was a knock on the door and Aru asked, "Who is it?"

"It´s Malon. I brought her some clothes. May I come in?"

"Yes." Aru said.

The door opened, and Zelda watched as a red-headed girl walked in. She was carrying a small bag, which Zelda assumed had clothes in.

"Nayru! Link is still here. Is he sleeping over? Where is Aryll?" She asked while closing the door. She then looked at Zelda and gasped when she realized she was awake. "Hi, there! How are you feeling? My name is Malon, what´s yours?" She said, holding out her hand for Zelda to shake.

"My head still hurts a lot. And my back…and my feet. But I´ll be fine." Zelda said, trying to match the girl´s (or more like a young woman´s) smile. "Nice to meet you Malon, my name´s Amalia." She continued, shaking Malon´s hand.

"Another Amalia! Nayru! Aren´t people going to get creative? When the Princess becomes Queen I´m afraid even my chickens will be named Zelda." Malon said, placing the clothes near Zelda´s bed.

Zelda didn´t know what to answer to that, so she just kept on eating.

"I brought you these clothes. I think we have around the same size. You can change into them tomorrow."

"Thank you, but I can´t stay here. There´s someone I need to find. I must hurry to find him as soon as possible. He must be really worried." Zelda said.

"No way!" Aru interrupted. "You are still weak, it´s raining a river out there and it´s very late already. I can´t let you leave!"

Zelda pondered her options and he was right. She wanted to find Sheik, but she was sure he was fine. He would yell at her for a week when he found her, but that was still slightly better than getting lost in the woods again.

"But if this is your room, where are you going to sleep?" Zelda asked.

"I´ll share with a friend of mine. There´s an extra mattress. You should only worry about finishing this stew and resting."

"Thank you. You´re being very kind." Zelda said.

"That´s Aru for you." Malon said, patting the boy´s back.

Then, they heard a strong voice outside say "I can hear Malon in there, Aru! You said nobody could come in. What´s Malon doing there?"

Malon and Aru exchanged annoyed looks and Aru answered. "She just brought clothes to the girl."

"And I have…water! Can I come in?" The voice answered.

"Link, go home! It´s late." Malon answered.

"Why can´t I come in? Is she awake?"

"She is fine. She just needs to rest. Like I said so many times." Aru replied.

"Come on, Aru! It´ll be a second. I just want to…I don´t know…see her. Please!"

Aru looked at Zelda as if asking for her opinion. She was tired and really wanted to sleep. But the voice seemed sincere in its worry, so Zelda timidly nodded.

"Fine, come in." Aru sighed. "But make it quick."

The door was immediately opened and the same boy who attacked her in the woods was there, hair disheveled and, to Zelda´s amusement, he really had a cup of water in his hand, but it was half full, so she assumed the water was his own.

He looked straight at her, but this time she didn´t feel the ethereal pull towards him she had felt in the forest. She was still perplexed at her reaction when she first saw him, which, after seeing him again, she could only blame on how handsome he was. And Nayru! Was he handsome.

 _Cool your hormones, Zelda!_ She thought. _He´s still suspicious._

He walked and placed the cup on the round table. His eyes never left her. Then, to her astonishment, he knelt in front of her and placed his forehead and hands on the floor, in a very emphatic sign of submission.

"I´m so sorry!" He said. "I didn´t know you were there, and when I realized you were there, it was too late and I couldn´t stop the stone or change its direction or make you move or anything…I´m sorry." He added in one breath. He was almost begging.

Zelda was still angry for the mess he had made, but he sounded sincere and remorseful enough, so she decided to give him a second chance.

"Stand up! There´s no need for all of that." She said, and he looked at her with puppy eyes. "It´s ok, I don´t blame you…anymore."

"Thank you, but I still feel like crap." He said, standing up. "Aru said you´re going to have a scar. I´m sorry."

"That´ll be a problem, yes. I have to make sure you pay for that." Zelda answered, putting a finger on her cheek. "Make sure my horse is well fed and taken care of. He loves grapes, so get him some, but don´t exaggerate. Make sure he is ready to leave by dawn." Zelda could see, from the corner of her eye, Malon looking at her, surprised. Link, on the other hand, had a very serious expression on his face, apparently taking everything Zelda was saying to heart.

"I will! I´ll get him the best grapes in Ordon. May I ask where you are going at dawn?" He asked.

"There´s someone I need to find. I was looking for this person in the woods, that´s why I was there in the first place."

"It´s settled then, I´ll help you find this person." He said, vehemently.

Malon seemed shocked at that. "Link, you heard her saying "dawn", right?"

"I heard, and I´ll be up. It´s the least I could do." He answered her, although his eyes never left Zelda, as if asking for her opinion on the matter.

"Well, fine. The more, the merrier." Zelda answered.

"You got yourself a deal." Link answered.

Malon sighed and said. "It´s better if you sleep over, then. It´s late already, and you´d have to wake up too early tomorrow to be here at dawn."

"Is that okay, Aru?" Link asked.

"Sure. No problem. But I´m afraid you´d have to take the couch. I´m already taking the other mattress."

"Your couch is horrible!" Malon intervened and Zelda couldn´t help but think that the girl was too honest and had no qualms with expressing what she was thinking. "Why don´t you share with Aleric and let Link sleep on the mattress on the floor?"

"I can´t invite myself to his house and deny him a bed." Link said, uncomfortable.

"Guys…" Aru tried to intervene.

"Well, it´s your decision, but I´ve already slept on that couch and it´s not pretty."

"Let Aleric sleep on the couch, then." Link said, smiling mischievously.

"Guys…" Aru tried again.

Malon laughed and said "Can you imagine his face in the morning? He would give you that angry stare for at least a week. No, you´d rather sleep on the couch."

"Guys!" Aru finally got their attention. "It´s fine. I´ll share with Al. Link can have the mattress."

"You´re too nice for your own good, Aru." Link said, sighing.

"What about little Aryll? Where is she?" Malon asked.

"She´s at Uli´s. She´ll sleep there tonight."

"Good."

Zelda watched the whole exchange with amusement. These people knew each other for a long time, she could tell. There was a carefree way they interacted with each other that was very new to her. In the castle, every word was carefully thought through and a conversation such as that could take hours with all the "My Lords", "Your Highness", "Sirs" and all the embellishment words in between. _Is that how Sheik and I sound like?_ She thought, and she decided that if it were, she was glad.

Malon stretched up and said "I should be going home now. It´s late. It was a pleasure meeting you, Amalia. Are you staying in Ordon or are you leaving tomorrow?" She asked.

"I´ll stay here for a while. I like to call myself a professional tourist, and Ordon is my next target. I just need to find my friend and the wagon with our things." She answered.

"Cool" Malon replied. "I will surely see you around, then. I am the farm girl, so if you need any eggs, or milk, just talk to me. And if you need more clothes, I can bring them. I have plenty." She smiled a sweet smile.

Zelda was impressed at how nicely those people were treating a complete stranger. She was starting to think her stay in Ordon could be pleasurable after all.

"Thank you. For everything." Zelda replied.

They exchanged their good-byes and Malon left the room.

"I´ll get the other room ready. If Al is asleep already, this could be quite dramatic." Aru said and stood up from the chair. He grabbed the tray and the empty bowl and moved to the door. "I hope you sleep well, Amalia. And if you need anything, the other room is right in front of this one. Don´t be shy to ask."

"Thank you very much. Really." Zelda said.

"No worries. And Link, don´t stay long. Let her rest." Aru said, commandingly.

"Aye, sir!" Link answered, and Aru left the room.

Link then looked at her and they went silent for a while. He sat on the chair previously occupied by Aru, and grabbed his cup of water, which had been forgotten on the round table.

"I never offered you the water. Would you really like some?" He said, offering the cup to her. "I promise you I didn´t drink it."

"I´d like it, thank you." She grabbed the cup and drank it all. She then realized how thirsty she was. The refreshing water doing wonders for her humor. "Ah, how I missed it!" She gave him back the cup.

Link chuckled at her reaction to the water and asked "Ehh, Amalia is your name, right?" She nodded. "I´m Link, I don´t think I introduced myself properly." They shook hands. She was expecting something to happen in the moment their hands touched. She was expecting her hand would glow, like it had in the forest, when she first saw him. But this time, nothing happened. Just the rough feel of his right hand on hers.

"I can now say it´s a pleasure to meet you, Link." She said.

He chuckled again. "I think I´ll never apologize enough for that. I´m glad to know you´re staying in Ordon. I can try to redeem myself in the meantime."

"I doubt you´d ever redeem yourself from the scare you gave me, but I´ll accept all your efforts." She said playfully.

"In my defense, you scared the crap out of me as well. What were you doing there?" He asked.

"I was coming to Ordon when I got separated from my friend last night and I had been trying to find him since then."

"You have been walking in those woods the whole night?" He asked, seemingly impressed.

"Well, yes. My horse was also too tired and I didn´t want to abuse him."

"That´s awful. It´s incredible you didn´t get attacked by any monsters last night. The forest is full of them, especially at night."

"Actually, that´s the reason we got separated. We were attacked by some bokoblins and my horse got scared and ran away into the woods. When he stopped, I didn´t know where I was."

"I see. Tomorrow we´ll find your friend. Keeping Ordon safe from these monsters is actually my job, so I know the forest very well."

"Thank you. Do you fight them every day?" Zelda asked, surprised.

"Well, somebody has to. I´m a good fighter, and I don´t do it alone. There´re other people crazy enough to venture in the woods. Actually, there´re some who do this at night. I tried it once, but I slept, so they moved me to the day shift."

Zelda laughed, which apparently made him smile. "So you are a sleepyhead. I think someone mentioned your lack of energy."

"Don´t trust these people. Aru can also sleep through a hurricane and Malon…well, I don´t think she sleeps at all." He pondered.

Zelda chuckled and replied. "I can´t wait to get to know you all better and figure out who is right."

"You will. Tomorrow I can show you the village after we find your friend. I can introduce you to everybody."

"That would be great, but don´t you have work to do? You know, protecting Ordon and all?"

"Oh yeah, there´s that. I forgot. Hmm, I could show you after work. At dusk, I´ll be free."

"That sounds nice. I´ll be here, I guess."

"Do you have a place to stay?

"There´s a small cabin I´ll be sharing with my friend. I don´t know where it is, though. But I´ll go there as soon as I find him."

Link frowned slightly and Zelda didn´t know if it was something she had said.

There was a knock at the door and Zelda heard Aru´s voice say "Link, let her sleep!"

"Okay!" He replied. Then turning back to Zelda, he said. "Well, I guess I have to go. But I´ll see you at dawn."

"Sure thing. I´ll be waiting." Zelda replied. "Sleep well. Oh, and try to wake up on time tomorrow." She added with humor.

"For the love of Nayru, my fame precedes me!" He said with a smile. "Don´t worry. I have to redeem myself, remember?"

"You sure do. Good-night, Link."

"Good-night, Amalia." He said and left the room.

Zelda didn´t know why, but it felt very wrong hearing him say the wrong name. She felt bad for having to lie about it, especially when everyone was being so nice to her. But she had her reasons and, aside for one detail or another, pretty much everything she said was the truth.

She finally laid back on her back, thinking about the recent events. That was it. After the long and tiresome travel, she was in Ordon, and she didn´t know for how long. The summer seemed to be stronger there, compared to the stone walls of Hyrule Castle, and the people seemed to be even warmer.

Despite her weird first encounter with Link, he seemed to be a nice person. He was funny, which was already a good start. She couldn´t wait for the next day, when she would get to know the rest of the village with him.

 _After I find Sheik_ , she thought. She could feel sleep overcoming her and her last thought was over how mad he would be.


End file.
